The High Court of Bombay in a recent matter quashed a show-cause notice and impugned order in a matter regarding disputed Customs Tariff Classification of Goods citing the lack of consideration of documents already made available to the Commissioner of Customs Imports, Acc, Mumbai – III.
The Writ Petition was filed before the Bombay High Court by Pall India Private Limited (Pall), an entity providing filtration, separation and purification services across various industries.
The Issue arose following the Petitioner’s classification of Goods imported by them under Customs Tariff Item 8421 – Centrifuges, Including Centrifugal Dryers; Filtering or Purifying Machinery and Apparatus, For Liquids or Gases. Said Classification by the Petitioner was refuted by the Department citing that the Goods should have been classified under Customs Tariff Item 3926 – Other articles of plastics and articles of other materials of headings 3901 to 3914.
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The Petitioner reinforced its stance by referring to an earlier consignment containing the same goods imported through Mumbai wherein the second Respondent accepted the consignment by means of a speaking order dated 23.11.2022 affirming the classification of the Goods under Heading 8421 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975.
The Commissioner was made aware of this while recording the statement of the Petitioner on 18.07.2023, but the same had not been discussed at any time during the adjudication of the present case, though it was mentioned in the Show-Cause Notice (SCN) sent to the Petitioner.
Counsel for the Respondent, Jitendra Mishra and Sangeeta Yadav submitted that the Petitioner failed to reply to the SCN and appear for the personal hearing.
These contentions were met with the submissions by Counsel for the Petitioner, Bharat Raichandani and Jasmine Dixit that a copy of the present Petition had been made available with the Commissioner, and that the Commissioner could have taken cognizance of the issue through the same.
The Division Bench of the Bombay High Court comprising Justice K. R. Shriram and Justice Jitendra Jain observed that Petitioner has a prima-facie case that the imported goods could be classified under Customs Tariff Item 8421.
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The Bench further noted that the Adjudicating Authority had the statement dated 18.07.2023 with him priorly, but failed to adjudicate on its basis.
The Bombay High Court observed that both parties have wilfully conducted mistakes in fulfilling their duties- the Petitioner in not replying to the SCN and abstaining from the personal hearing, and the Adjudicating Authority in passing an order without considering all the documents present before it.
In light of the observations, the Bombay High Court remanded the matter back to the Commissioner of Customs Imports, Acc, Mumbai – III for fresh consideration of the matter.
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