TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 834
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....re that the appellant, an export-oriented unit, received a Letter of Permission from the Cochin Special Economic Zone on 22.04.2008 for exporting High Grade Calibrated Iron Ore and High Grade Iron Ore Fines with Fe content above 64%. At the time of export, the appellant allegedly declared that the cargo met the said Fe grade, and Customs accepted the declaration without sampling or requiring a provisional duty bond. The department alleges that the contract between the appellant and the buyers set the base supply price per Dry Metric Tonne (DMT) on either Free on Board (FOB) or Cost & Freight (CFR) basis, with adjustments for actual iron content and other elements like phosphorus and sulphur agreed upon between exporter and buyer. During shipping, the appellant declared the maximum moisture allowed by contract in the Shipping Bills, calculating the DMT quantity accordingly. The FOB value provided to Customs was based on this DMT amount and the unit price specified in the contract, with duties paid on the declared value. Surveyors appointed by either party at both loading and unloading ports sampled and analysed the goods, issuing certificates on the actual moisture and DMT quantitie....
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....enkataraman, appeared for the appellant and Ld. Authorized Representative Smt. Anandalakshmi Ganeshram, appeared for the respondent. 3.1 The Ld. Counsels for the appellant submitted that they had filed a Miscellaneous Petition dated 21/11/2023, for raising an additional ground that in the absence of an entrustment under section 6 of the Customs Act 1962, an officer of DRI will not have jurisdiction to exercise the function entrusted to Customs Officers under the provisions of the Customs Act. On merits they stated that minor quantity variations (2-4%) in bulk exports were unintentional, with moisture increases at Chennai Port caused by water spraying, and that test reports are only available after shipping. They noted minimal differences in Fe content, with Indian tests consistently showing higher levels than Chinese CIQ results. Payment is based on Disport test results as per contract, despite evidence of higher Fe content. Only two contracts were amended post-shipment at the buyer's insistence, not affecting transaction value. The appellant also claimed the department failed to justify not invoking the extended period in the show cause notice. Reliance was placed on the fo....
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.... by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), which empowered officers of DRI to issue show-cause notices under S.28 of the Act as well as Notification no. 44/2011 dated 06.07.2011 which assigned the functions of "proper officers" for the purposes of Sections 17 and 28 to the officers of the DRI were not brought to the notice of the Apex Court during the proceedings in Civil Appeal No. 1827 of 2018, dated 09.03.202, titled M/s Canon India Private Ltd. Vs Commissioner of Customs (Also referred to as Canon India - I). The Judgment also set aside the decision of the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi rendered in the case of Mangali Impex Ltd. Vs Union of India reported [(2016) SCC Online Del 2597] and upheld the view taken by the Hon'ble High Court of Bombay in the case of Sunil Gupta Vs Union of India and Others [(2014) SCC Online Bom 1742]. It also upheld the constitutional validity of Section 97 of the Finance Act, 2022." We hence do not find any substance in the submissions made in the Miscellaneous Petition and reject the same. 6. We find the dispute for the period from 13.06.2008 to 30.11.2010, relates to the valuation and payment of duty on High Grade Calibrated Iron Ore a....
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....is by finding out the iron content in dry sample analysis. What is relevant is the condition in which iron ore is presented to the customs authorities for export namely, the condition of the goods on the date of the export. If the condition of the goods on the date of the export is such, that it contains impurities and moisture and that it is not purely only iron ore then, in that regard, the universally applied formula would become applicable to determine the percentage of iron ore in the condition of the goods on the date of the export. (iv) The Government having accepted one principle in holding the exporter to the condition of the goods on the date of the export, a different principle cannot be adopted while determining the customs duty. Thus, if the weightment of the exportable goods is made while it is in moist condition, then it cannot be accepted that the iron content cannot be determined while the goods are in moist condition. (v) It is not correct for the Revenue to take a position that as it is not possible by a physical analysis to determine the iron ore content in moist lumpy iron ore or moist iron ore fines, because moist iron ore fines and moist iro....
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....the iron content in the iron ore and the iron fines is to first eliminate the moisture and then the other impurities and ascertain the content of iron and determine its percentage without taking the moisture into consideration. This, he submitted, was the method which is normally employed under the ISI standard as well as by Chemical Analysts who are called upon to determine iron content in lumpy iron ore or iron ore fines. It is immaterial what method one adopts for the purposes of separating the iron content from the lumpy iron ore but the percentage has to be determined from the total weight which was available at the given point of time after the iron content is determined. That is because the duty is relatable to weight and, therefore, once the iron content is determined keeping in mind the total weight the percentage can be determined separating the iron content from the rest of the impurities inclusive of moisture and thereafter ascertain in which category the lumpy iron ore would fall for the purposes of charging duty under the aforesaid Notifications. This view which the learned Single Judge took and which came to be affirmed by the Division Bench of the High Court appears....