CESTAT Quashes SCN Demanding Custom Duty for Wrongly Availing Concessional Rate of Duty on Ground of Barred by Limitation [Read Order]

The Chennai bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) quashed the show cause notice demanding custom duty for wrongly availing concessional rate of duty on the ground of Limitation. 

Ultrasonic Structural Systems Pvt. Ltd, the appellant assessee filed a Bill of Entry seeking clearance of goods by declaring it as ‘Non-Alloy Steel Wire Rod’ and the goods were imported from Silvery Dragon PC Steel Products Group Co. Ltd., China, and Wire and Wire Products, Malaysia, and the country of origin of both the goods were declared as China. 

The assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) for issuance of show cause notice for demanding custom duty on the ground of wrongly availing the concessional rate of duty. 

V. Shankara Narayanan, the counsel for the assessee contended that the issuance of the show cause notice after the final order was not sustainable as there was no provision for issuing a show cause notice after consideration of the appeal and the demand confirmed after issuance of such notice cannot be justified in any manner. 

Rudra Pratap Singh, the counsel for the department contended that the show cause notice had been issued as per the direction of the final order of the Tribunal the relevant date for computing the period of limitation of six months for issuance of the show cause notice would be the date of passing of the final order. 

The Bench observed that there was no provision in the Customs Act, 1962 which enables the Tribunal to direct the department to issue the show cause notice to a party. 

The two-member bench comprising Sulekha Beevi C.S (Judicial) and Vasa Seshagiri Rao(Technical) held that the issuance of show cause notice was time-barred and cannot sustain while allowing the appeal filed by the assessee. 

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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