TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (3) TMI 858
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....s.) 1 C/50231 /2025 Abhishek Exports 8/2024 dated 30.7.2024 Nov 05 to Apr 06 87,30,126 87,30,126 1,25,00,000 2 C/50242 /2025 Abhishek Exports 9/2024 dated 30.7.2024 May 06 to Sep 06 65,20,262 65,20,262 80,00,000 3 C/50243 /2025 Abhishek Exports 10/2024 dated 30.7.2024 Oct 06 to Feb 07 71,92,535 71,92,535 1,20,00,000 4 C/50192 /2025 Jain Grani Marmo (P) Ltd, 13/2024 dated 30.7.2024 Sep 05 to Apr 06 24,60,516 24,60,516 30,00,000 5 C/50194 /2025 Jain Grani Marmo (P) Ltd, 14/2024 dated 30.7.2024 May 06 toSep 06 15,40,012 15,40,012 20,00,000 6 C/50212 /2025 Jain Grani Marmo (P) Ltd, 15/2024 dated 30.7.2024 Oct 06 to Feb 07 90,45,231 90,45,231 1,25,00,000 7 C/50213 /2025 Jain Grani Marmo (P) Ltd, 16/2024 dated 30.7.2024 Dec 09 to Mar 15 26,85,50,625 26,85,50,625 8,00,00,000 8 C/50227 /2025 Jain Grani Marmo (P) Ltd, 17/2024 dated 30.7.2024 Apr 15 to Mar 17 23,65,252 23,65,252 30,00,000 9 C/50211 /2025 Pacific Industries Ltd. 11/2024 dated 30.7.2024 Jul 06 to Nov 06 1,48,19,881 1,....
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....d or manufactured in special economic zones) which are produced or manufactured in India as, and at the rates, set forth in the First Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 (5 of 1986); (b) a special duty of excise, in addition to the duty of excise specified in clause (a) above, on excisable goods (excluding goods produced or manufactured in special economic zones) specified in the Second Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 (5 of 1986) which are produced or manufactured in India, as, and at the rates, set forth in the said Second Schedule: Provided that the duties of excise which shall be levied and collected on any excisable goods which are produced or manufactured,- (i) in a Free Trade Zone and brought to any other place in India; or (ii) by a hundred per cent export-oriented undertaking and brought to any other place in India, shall be an amount equal to the aggregate of the duties of customs which would be leviable under the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), or any other law for the time being in force, on like goods produced or manufactured outside India if imported into India, and where the said duties of custom....
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....o DTA to the extent of 50% of the FOB value of the exports. 9. The appellants resisted the proposals in the SCN which were, however, confirmed in the impugned orders as detailed above. Submissions on behalf of the appellants 10. Learned counsels for the appellants made the following submissions: (i) The appellants had cleared finished products to DTA after paying full duties of excise equivalent to the aggregate duties of customs as per the proviso to section 3(1) of the Excise Act. (ii) The High Court had, by stay orders, specifically allowed clearance of marble to DTA upon full payment of duty. Once the excise duty has been paid in full on the finished product, customs duty cannot be demanded on the imported marble blocks. Reliance is placed on the following decisions: (a) Sarla Performance Fibres versus Commissioner of Central Excise, Customs and Service Tax-CESTAT, Ahmedabad Final Order A/10537-10538/2015 dated 24.2.2015 (b) Commissioner of Central Excise, Surat versus Sanjari Twisters-2009 (235) E.L.T. 116 (Tri - Ahmd) upheld by the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Central Excise, Surat versus Sanjari Twisters-2010 (255) E.L.T....
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....ecords. The questions which fall for consideration in these appeals are: (i) Can the demand of duty with consequential interest on imported marble be confirmed in the facts of these cases? (ii) Could extended period of limitation been invoked? (iii) Were penalties under section 114A correctly imposed in these cases? (iv) Were the redemption fines in lieu of confiscation of the goods under section 111(d) and 111(o) been imposed correctly in these cases? Duties of customs on the imported marble blocks 13. There is no dispute that the imported marble blocks were chargeable to customs duties but for the exemption under Notification No. 52/2003-Cus dated 31.3.2003 available to EOUs. There is no dispute that the appellants were EOUs. During the relevant period and further up to 8.4.2011 (when section 17 of the Customs Act was amended introducing self-assessment), all Bills of Entry had to be assessed by the proper officer and goods had to be cleared. Evidently, if the goods were cleared allowing the benefit of Notification No. 52/2003-Cus dated 31.3.2003, the proper officers must have considered and decided that the appellants were entitled to th....
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....ted. No exemption or abatement were allowed by the High Court. The net effect of the DTA clearances of the marble slabs as per the stay orders of the High Court was that instead of paying customs duties on the imported marble blocks (raw material), the appellants had paid central excise duties equal to the customs duties payable on marble slabs (final products). Needless to say that value of finished products of any industry will be more than the value of raw material. Thus, viewing from any angle, we do not find any scope of loss of revenue; it was only received as central excise duty instead of as customs duties. 17. In the case of Sanjari Twisters, a coordinate bench of this Tribunal rejected the department's appeal against the order of the Commissioner in which he confirmed the demand of Excise duty on the final products cleared by the 100% EOU but dropped the demand of customs duty on the raw materials used. Revenue's Civil Appeal against this decision of the Tribunal was disposed of by the Supreme Court condoning the delay but dismissing the appeal on merits. This decision squarely applies to this case. 18. As we have found in favour of the appellants on the question of....
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....he order by which such increase in the duty or interest takes effect : Provided also that where any penalty has been levied under this section, no penalty shall be levied under section 112 or section 114 . Explanation . - For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that - (i) the provisions of this section shall also apply to cases in which the order determining the duty or interest sub-section (8) of section 28 relates to notices issued prior to the date on which the Finance Act, 2000 receives the assent of the President; (ii) any amount paid to the credit of the Central Government prior to the date of communication of the order referred to in the first proviso or the fourth proviso shall be adjusted against the total amount due from such person. 20. As we have found that the duty could not have been demanded, penalty under section 114A also needs to be set aside. Confiscation of goods and imposition of redemption fine 21. The goods were held in the impugned order to be liable to confiscation under section 111(d) and 111(o) of the Customs Act and redemption fines were imposed in lieu of the confiscation under section 125 of the Cus....
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....e void, unless an appeal against such order is pending. Explanation .-For removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that in cases where an order under sub-section (1) has been passed before the date on which the Finance Bill, 2018 receives the assent of the President and no appeal is pending against such order as on that date, the option under said sub-section may be exercised within a period of one hundred and twenty days from the date on which such assent is received. 22. Section 111(d) provides for confiscation of goods imported in violation of any prohibition imposed under the Customs Act or any other law for the time being in force. Import of marble blocks was, admittedly restricted as per the FTP and they could be imported only on a licence from the DGFT. The appellants were issued permission by Development Commissioner to import marble blocks into their EOUs. It is for this reason, they were cleared by the proper officer at the time of import. Else, he would have seized them and taken action at that time itself. It may be reiterated that during the relevant period all imports had to be assessed by the proper officer and there was no self-assessment. The case of th....
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....onds will be that if they are, at the time of adjudication, confiscated, the owner would pay the redemption fine in lieu of confiscation. It is on this undertaking in the bond, the goods are provisionally released and therefore, it becomes obligatory for the owner of the goods to pay redemption fine. In all other cases, redemption fine is only an option. 26. For the sake of clarity, if we had upheld the confiscation of the goods and the appellants did not opt to redeem them, the Commissioner would be in an impossible position of having burdened himself with the responsibility of taking possession of the goods as they would vest in the Central Government. 27. Any adjudicating authority confiscating any goods under the Act will be concomitantly taking upon himself or herself the statutory responsibility of taking possession of the confiscated goods as per section 126. 28. As far as the owner of the goods is concerned, he is free to choose whether to redeem the goods on paying redemption fine or not. Even without these appeals, the appellants in these appeals could have written to the Commissioner indicating that they DO NOT OPT for redemption under section 125 of the Act whi....