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2018 (12) TMI 1923 - HC - CustomsValuation of imported goods - Star Aniseeds - undervaluation of goods - rejection of declared value based on contemporaneous value - invocation of principle of sampling - demand of differential duty alongwith interest and penalty - HELD THAT:- The petitioner herein had imported vide as many as 59 bills of entry. The authority had some material to doubt the truth or accuracy of two of the transactions. The respondent chose to invoke the principle of sampling and determine all the 59 transactions on this basis. This is clearly not correct. The imported goods are agricultural commodities. It may not be anybody's case that the value of the goods prevailing in one month would be the same over a period also. Therefore, on the strength of some materials obtained in respect of a few transactions, the respondent could not have determined the value of the remaining 57 transactions also. Only in Statistics and Psephology, the sampling methods are adopted. In matters having serious civil and penal consequences, such sampling methods should not be adopted. There are no hesitation to hold that the approach adopted by the respondent does not conform to the statutory procedure laid down in the Customs Valuation (Determination of Value of Imported Goods) Rules, 2007. As already pointed out as per Rule 12, before passing an order of rejection, the authority must first ask the importer for further information. In this case, there is nothing on record to show that this Step-1 was performed. Once the declared value is rejected, the next step is to proceed sequentially in accordance with Rules 4 to 9. The respondent did not do so. As already shown, the respondent by not furnishing the authenticated copies of the documents with true translation has committed gross violation of the principles of natural justice. The matter is remitted to the file of the respondent to proceed afresh in accordance with law - petition allowed by way of remand.
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