The Kolkata bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that the procedural lapse cannot impede the grant of substantive benefit of Customs Duty.
Sofitel Overseas Private Limited, the appellant assessee filed five Bills of Entry seeking the benefit of Notification No.12/2012-Customs as amended vide Notification No.25/2013-Customs and paid duty @ 7.5% at the time of clearance of the said goods.
The assessee appealed against the order passed by the adjudicating authority for rejecting the benefit.
During the hearing of the appeal, none appeared on behalf of the assessee and A.K.Chowdhury appeared on behalf of the department.
The assessee submitted that as the original consignment was split up into five smaller imports and when collectively the quantity of the five import invoices (72 MTs each) total up to the impugned quantity (360 MTs) and all other particulars of the import invoices are in sync with the details furnished in the impugned certificate. It was settled law that procedural lapses, if any, cannot come in the way of disallowing a substantive benefit to the party, as long as there was no prejudice caused to the contents and the intentions of the documents.
The Bench observed that in the case of India Photographic Co. Ltd. vs. Collector of Customs, Bombay, the court held that procedural formality, if any cannot impede the grant of a substantive benefit.
The two-member bench comprising Ashok Jindal (Judicial) and Rajeev Tandon (Technical) held that where a more beneficial exemption is available to the assessee, it cannot be precluded from seeking duty relief thereto.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates
