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2019 (10) TMI 336

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....t. This ship demurrage charge was not declared by the appellant for the purpose of determination of assessable value of the imported goods under the provisions of Section 14 of Customs Act, 1962 read with Rule 3 and 12 of Customs Valuation read with (Determination of value of imported goods) Rules, 2007 for the period 07.09.2012 to 11.09.2015. The Adjudicating Authority confirmed the entire demand as raised in the Show Cause Notice and also imposed penalties and interest under relevant provisions of Customs Act, 1962 (for short "Customs act"). 2. Being aggrieved by the order the appellant is in appeal before this Tribunal. 3. Brief facts of the case are that the appellant is engaged in manufacture of supply of organic chemicals. During th....

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....he Customs Act. 5. Learned Advocate on behalf of the appellant submitted that the demurrage charges are not includable in the assessable value of imported goods under Section 14 of the Customs Act, where the duty chargeable on the price paid or "Payable at the time and place of importation". Section 14 of the Customs Act cannot be extended to include something which is not contemplated under Section 14 of the Customs Act. 5.1 Learned Advocate place the reliance on the following decisions also stated that the scope of Section cannot be extended by mere Explanation; (i) Indian Oil Corporation Limited vs. Commissioner of Customs, Calcutta [2000 (122) ELT 615 (Tri-LB)]. (ii) Commissioner of Customs, Calcutta vs. Indian Oil Corporation Lim....

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....that Explanation is only to explain and not add or alter or widen the scope and ambit of the Section. 5.4 Learned Advocate further argues that once the import has been affected by utilisation of valid advance license, no demand can be raised after discharge of export obligation discharge certificate. (EODC). Therefore, the demand pertaining to the value of goods which represented demurrage charges could not have been confirmed in the impugned order. Learned Advocate also relied upon the decision of Reliance Industries Limited vs. Commissioner of Cus. (Prev), Ahmedabad,[2004 (174) ELT 344(Tri.-Mum.)], wherein it is held that floating crane charges in the nature of post importation expenses and is treated as a part of loading/unloading, whic....

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.... to the Section 28(4) of Customs Act as there was no mis-representation on the part of the appellant. The appellant has not included the shipping demurrage charges in the assessable value for the purpose of payment of Customs duty placing reliance on various Circulars issued by the CBEC; (i) 467/21/89-Cus V dated 14-08-1991 (ii) 14-2001-Cus., dated 2-3-2001 (iii) 5/2006-Cus,. Dated 12-1-2006 (iv) 26/2006-Cus., dated 26-9-2006 It is evident from these Circulars that there was a conflicting view on the issue of inclusion of shipping demurrage charges, it cannot be said that the appellant has deliberately suppressed any information from the Department. 5.7 Finally, learned Advocate submits that in the recent judgement of TATA Steels ....

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.... interpreting a statute, one has to go by the scope and object of the principal Act. Under the principal Act, while amending it on 10th October, 2007, proviso has included the costs and services, including commissions and brokerage, engineering, design work, royalties and licence fees, costs of transportation to the place of importation, insurance, loading, unloading and handling charges to the extent and in the manner specified in the Rules. The demurrage has not been included as a part of cost envisaged by the legislation. Further, it is a kind of penalty. Therefore, it could not have been envisaged by the legislation to be included in the definition of Section 14 of the Act. However, in view of the clarifications by way of judgements o....