The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Delhi bench, while upholding the decision of the Commissioner (Appeals) to re-do the assessment passed on the Bills of Entry with respect to the rate of Basic Customs Duty, held that the importer cannot be held liable for the non-generation of Bills of Entry numbers via ICEGATE Portal.
The respondent-Company imported four consignments of Gold Dore Bars and in relation to these four consignments filed four Bills of Entry with relevant supporting documents through the ICEGATE3 portal on 05.07.2019. However, only one Bill of Entry number was generated corresponding to Job Code No. 626, but numbers for the three Bills of Entry with respect to Job Code Nos. 629, 630 and 631 were not generated.
The respondent claimed to have received a communication from ICEGATE service manager that the three Bills of Entry could not be processed due to a technical glitch in their system and that the ICEGATE had requested the respondent to re-file the same. However, the department rejected the contention and passed an assessment order levying demand from the respondent.
After verifying the facts in deep, the Tribunal bench comprising CESTAT President Justice Dilip Gupta and Tachnical Member P V Subba Rao observed that the respondent had submitted all the four Bills of Entry with the relevant documents on 05.07.2019 before 5 PM and the respondent cannot be blamed if for three consignments, Bills of Entry numbers were notgenerated because of some fault with the ICEGATE portal of the appellant on which the respondent was required to enter the Electronic Integrated Declaration and the supporting documents.
“The rate of Basic Customs Duty as applicable on 05.07.2019 would, therefore, be applicable and not the Basic Customs Duty as applicable on 20.07.2019, on which date the respondent had resubmitted the Bills of Entry with documents in view of the instructions issued by the Department. There is, therefore, no error in the order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) requiring the Department to re-assess the three Bills of Entry with respect to the rate of Basic Customs Duty applicable on 05.07.2019,” the bench said.
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