2022 (5) TMI 498 - GUJARAT HIGH COURT - Customs

Head Note / Extract:
Validity of order of settlement commission - Demand of differential duty - undervaluation - whether the Settlement Commission committed any error in passing the impugned order? - HELD THAT:- In view of the settled position of law, the principal contention canvassed on behalf of the writ applicant that the Settlement Commission ought not to have gone into the merits of the show-cause notice. If the Settlement Commission was of the view that the writ applicant failed to make “full and true’ disclosure of the duty liability, it should have rejected the settlement application. The writ applicant should have been relegated to suffer and undergo the adjudication mechanism and procedure as per the provisions of the Act. The impugned order passed by the Settlement Commission to the extent the same ‘adjudicate” and confirm the demand raised in the show-cause notice is hereby quashed. The legal consequences as postulate in law would follow. The proceedings pursuant to the show-cause notice before the concerned authority shall commence - this writ application is partly allowed.