Case Law Details
Duty drawback – goods had been over-valued with the intention of claiming undue draw-back amounts – instead of first determining the value of the goods on the basis of contemporaneous exports of identical goods, the Revenue erroneously resorted to a market inquiry – contemporaneous exports of identical goods was not available, the procedure laid down in Rules 5 to 8 of the 1988 Rules was required to be followed and market inquiry could be conducted only as a last resort – in the absence of any other independent evidence relating to market inquiry, there was no other corroborating evidence to support the allegation of inflation in FOB value – the matter is remitted back to the adjudicating authority for fresh consideration in accordance with law.
Siddachalam Exports Private Limited Vs Commissioner of Central Excise, Delhi-III [SUPREME COURT OF INDIA, 01 Apr 2011]
D.K. JAIN, J.:
1. Challenge in this civil appeal, under Section 130-E(b) of the Customs Act, 1962 (for short “the Act”), is to the judgment and order dated 14th September, 2006 delivered by the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (for short “the CESTAT”) whereby it allowed the appeal preferred by the revenue, the respondent herein. Consequently, the customs duty drawback (`49,75,536/-) claimed by the appellant under the scheme of duty drawback, incorporated in Chapter X of the Act, read with Customs and Central Excise Duties Draw-back Rules, 1995 (as 1 amended) got disallowed on the ground of mis-declaration of value of the goods entered for exportation.
2. The facts, material for adjudication of the present appeal, may be stated thus: The appellant viz. M/s Siddachalam Exports Pvt. Ltd., (hereinafter referred to as “the exporter”) was engaged in the exports of ready-made garments, engineering goods, handicrafts, woollen garments, leather goods, etc. On 24th February, 2003, the exporter filed seven shipping Bills (Nos.J-903000127-129 and J-903000131-134) for export of goods declared as `ladies tops’ valued at `390/- per piece and `denim shirts’ valued at `417/- per piece consigned to one M/s Zao Jainyo Overseas, Moscow, Russia at a total FOB value of `4,14,63,360/-. The exporter claimed a duty drawback of ‘49,75,536/-.
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