The Chennai bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) upheld the deletion of the penalty imposed under section 112A of the Customs Act, 1962.
Kaveri Silks & Jute Private Limited, the respondent assessee filed seven Bills-of-Entry for clearance of Raw Silk Yarn in Hanks, classifying the imported goods.
The revenue appealed against the order passed by the adjudicating authority for deleting the imposition of penalty due to the confiscation of imported goods.
K. Komathi, the counsel for the revenue department contended that the Customs Authorities, while assessing the value of import, are not bound by the figure mentioned in the invoice and can rely on contemporaneous evidence to show that the invoice value was not the correct value, in terms of Section 14 of the Customs Act.
M.A. Mudimannan, the counsel for the assessee contended that no circumstances exist for rejection of the transaction value in these cases as the revenue had relied on one odd import whereas similar Raw Silk Yarn was imported from Uzbekistan at the relevant time.
The bench observed that the earlier imports of the respondent were cleared accepting the values declared and also since the value of the contemporaneous import of identical goods has not been conclusively arrived at by the lower adjudicating authority, the declared transaction value had to be accepted.
The two-member bench comprising P. Dinesh (Judicial) and Vasa Sheshagiri Rao (Technical) upheld the deletion of the imposition of penalty under section 112(a) of the Customs Act while dismissing the appeal filed by the revenue.
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