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2023 (2) TMI 144 - AT - CustomsEffective date of amendment of notification No.29/2018-Cus dated 01.03.2018 - rate of Customs duty - levy of BCD at the enhanced rate of 54% in respect of imported goods 1.e., RBD Palmolein of Edible Grade falling under Customs Tariff Heading 151190 and covered under Sl. No. 65 of original notification No. 50/2017-Cus dated 30.06.2017 - whether the notification to come into effect from the date of its issue on 01st March 2018? - contention of the appellant is that in terms of section 15(1)(a) of the Customs Act, 1962, the rate of duty applicable to the imported goods is the rate in force when the Entry Inwards to the vessel carrying the imported goods was granted on 05.03.2018. Whether the exemption notification will be effective from 01.03.2018 or from 06.03.2018? HELD THAT:- In the present case the notification dated 01.03.2018 was digitally signed on 06.03.2018 at 17:15 hours and before that it could not have been uploaded for publication. Thus, the exemption notification would come into force only on 06.03.2018. This issue was also examined by the Gujarat High Court in the case of the appellant in ADANI WILMAR LIMITED VERSUS UNION OF INDIA [2022 (11) TMI 764 - GUJARAT HIGH COURT] where the issue arose before the Gujarat High Court was whether the exemption notification dated 01.03.2018 will be effective from 01.03.2018 or 06.03.2018, on which date it was digitally signed. In this connection the Gujarat High Court, after placing reliance upon the decision of the Supreme Court in UNION OF INDIA & OTHERS VERSUS M/S GS CHATHA RICE MILLS & ANOTHER [2020 (9) TMI 903 - SUPREME COURT] and also upon the decisions of the Gujarat High Court in RUCHI SOYA INDUSTRIES LTD THROUGH AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE VERSUS UNION OF INDIA & 2 OTHERS [2020 (9) TMI 422 - GUJARAT HIGH COURT] and the Andhra Pradesh High Court in M/S RUCHI SOYA INDUSTRIES LTD. VERSUS UNION OF INDIA [2019 (9) TMI 1374 - ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURT], observed that the effective date of Notification in terms of Section 25 (4) of the Act is the date of its publication in Official Gazette in e-mode on 06.03.2018 and the Notification, therefore, cannot be said to have come into force on 01.03.2018 and enhanced rate of duty by way of Notification No. 29/2018-CUS dated 01.03.2018 surely would not be, therefore, applicable. The petitioner would be entitled to pay only 40% of the duty which was applicable at the time of presenting the bills of entry for home consumption and not 54% under section 17(4) of the Act. In the present case, it is not in dispute that the entry inwards was granted to the vessel on 05.03.2018 at 11:45 hours. At that time the notification dated 30.06.2017, as amended on 17.11.2017, imposing duty at the rate of 40% was applicable. The exemption notification increasing the duty from 40% to 54% came into effect only on 06.03.2018. The Bills of Entry, therefore, could not have been reassessed at the higher rate of duty @54% under the notification dated 01.03.2018. Thus, in view of the aforesaid decisions of the High Courts, the Commissioner (Appeals) was not justified in holding that the duty would be payable on the imported goods at the rates specified in the exemption notification dated 01.03.2018, even though the entry inwards was granted to the vessel on 05.03.2018 and the said exemption notification dated 01.03.2018 was published in the Official Gazette only on 06.03.2018, after it was digitally signed. The exemption notification came into effect only on 06.03.2018, on which date it was published in the Official Gazette after it was digitally signed for e-publication - The Commissioner (Appeals), was also not justified in distinguishing the cases cited by the appellant only for the reason that an amendment had been made in section 25(4) of the Customs Act in 2016. The order dated 31.01.2020 passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) is, accordingly, set aside - appeal allowed.
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