The Kolkata bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) quashed the Customs duty demand on the import of tractor parts on the grounds of non-suppression of the transaction value.
Himalaya Tractor Company, the appellant assessee was a registered partnership firm that imported tractor parts in lots from China the assessee filed nine Bills of Entry for home consumption which were assessed to duty and the proper officer of Customs had passed orders for the clearance of goods.
The assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) for confirming the Customs Duty demand and for the imposition of penalty along with the interest.
Sudhir Mehta, the counsel for the assessee contended that several instances of import of goods at a lower value than the value declared by them, which were not considered by the adjudicating authority.
Also submitted that if National Import Database (NIDB) data was to be relied upon, then it had to be continuous data and in the absence of continuity in data selective data cannot be taken.
S.Debnath, the counsel for the department relied on the decisions made by the lower authorities and contended that the demand raised by the revenue was as per the law and liable to be sustained.
The Bench observed that there was no evidence available on record to reject the transaction value declared by the assessee and hence the differential duty arrived by the adjudicating authority based on the value available on contemporaneous import of similar goods was not sustainable and since the demand was not sustainable, the penalty imposed on the assessee on this count was also not sustainable.
The two-member bench comprising Muralidhar (Judicial) and Anpazhakan (Technical) quashed the customs duty demand and penalty imposed on the assessee.
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