The Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has received a relief from the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Ahmedabad bench wherein the Tribunal directed the Revenue to re-consider their claim of refund by granting an opportunity to the appellants to pursue their claim by rectifying the errors in the assessment under section 154 of the Customs Act, 1962.
Brief facts of the case are that the appellant imported various consignments of crude petroleum oil at Vadinar during the period from July 2002 to November 2004 and these goods were stored in their private bonded warehouse. The Customs Officers referred to the ullage survey reports prepared on board of the concerned carrier tankers and on the basis of such ullage reports, it was observed that in some cases, the quantity discharged at Vadinar was more than the quantity indicated in the Bill of Lading and Invoices. At the time of the final assessment of the aforesaid Bill of Entry, the Assessing Officer finalized the assessment after enhancing the invoice value to the extent of the pro-rata price of such excess received goods.
Later, the original bill of entries was re-assessed as per the directions of the Commissioner (Appeals), Jamnagar after allowing Address Commission on Freight/Demurrage as per the Charter Party Agreement, charging NCCD onshore tank receipt quantity instead of a bill of lading quantity and after considering the transaction value. Consequently, the appellant filed 9 refund claims under cover of 9 different letters. The adjudicating authority rejected the refund claim on the ground that the appellant had not filed any appeal against the 26 orders of final assessment order for finalizing provisional assessment.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the Tribunal bench comprising Judicial Member Mr. Ramesh Nair and Accountant Member Mr. Anjani Kumar directed the Revenue to re-consider the claim by observing that “we find that among other submissions the learned counsel has also made reference of Section 154 of Customs Act, 1962 whereby the assessment can be amended by Reassessment of Bill of Entry. However, on a query from the bench learned counsel fairly submits that they have not filed an application under section 154 of the Customs Act, 1962. In this position, we are of the view that in the interest of the justice the appellant should be given an opportunity to pursue their case in terms of section 154 of Customs Act, 1962.”
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