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2024 (1) TMI 1128 - AT - CustomsFraudulent availment of higher drawback or not - export of sub-standard readymade garments at highly overvalued prices - rejection of transaction value under rule 8 - reason to doubt - HELD THAT:- Rule 8 clearly provides that if the proper officer has “reason to doubt” in the first place, he can call for further information and documents and after examining them or if they are not provided if he still has reasonable doubt that the declared transaction value is not true and accurate, it can be rejected. In this case the proper officer had no doubt at all. The officers of DRI, based on intelligence and their subjective opinion and the opinion of another trader, doubted the transaction value and proceeded to seize the consignment and issued the show cause notice. Therefore, there was neither any reason to doubt under rule 8 by the proper officer nor a reasonable doubt at the time of issue of show cause notice. An exporter declares the transaction value and self-assesses the shipping bill as per his understanding which must be accepted unless there is reasonable doubt by the proper officer. And this reasonable doubt cannot be based on the mere opinion of some DRI officers who physically examined the goods. It is surprising that the Joint Commissioner adjudicated the matter solely based on the subjective opinion of the DRI officers ignoring all the documents on record produced by the appellant in support of transaction value. The entire case of the Revenue is that the opinion of the officers of DRI who inspected the goods that they were over-valued is sufficient to form a reasonable doubt regarding the transaction value in the shipping bills and reject it under rule 8, regardless of all the documents produced by the appellant including the bank realization certificates which reflect the transaction value. Nothing in the Act or the Export Valuation Rules provide for rejection of the transaction value based on the intelligence received by the officers of DRI or their subjective opinion rejecting the value of the goods. Needless to say, such an order cannot be sustained. Once the rejection of the transaction value under rule 8 is found to be not tenable, its re-determination, consequential confiscation of the export goods and imposition of redemption fine or penalties cannot be sustained. The declared transaction value was wrongly rejected under Export Valuation Rules 8. The impugned order is, therefore, set aside - Appeal allowed.
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