Excise | Dietary Supplements Not Pharma Products, CESTAT Delhi Orders Recovery Of ₹1.63 Crore And Personal Penalty On Plant Head

The Delhi Bench, Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has held that Dietary Supplements were not food products, not pharmaceuticals, hence not eligible for area-based excise exemption. A Bench comprising Smt. Binu Tamta (Judicial Member) and Shri. P.V. Subba Rao (Technical Member), dismissed the appeal filed by Pharmaceutical Company by upholding demand of ₹1.63 crore duty with interest as well as penalty equal to duty on the Company and personal penalty on Plant...

Customs Act | Penalty U/S 114A Bars Private Warehouse Licence Even Without Criminal Conviction: CESTAT Allahabad

The Allahabad Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has dismissed appeals thereby upholding the Customs Department's decision rejecting the company's applications for a private warehousing licence and permission to carry out manufacturing operations under the Customs Act, 1962. A Bench comprising Judicial Member S.K. Mohanty and Technical Member Sanjiv Srivastava was hearing the appeals against orders passed by the Commissioner (Appeals), Customs,...

No Break-Up, No VAT Proof: CESTAT Allahabad Upholds ₹2.19 Crore Service Tax Demand Against Lakmé Franchise Beauty Salon

The Allahabad Bench of Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that in the absence of any documentary break-up between service receipts and retail sale of goods, the entire receipts of the Lakme Franchise beauty salon are liable to service tax. P. Dinesha (Judicial Member) and Sanjiv Srivastava (Technical Member) stated that no Notes on Accounts, which would have been part of the audited balance sheet/ profit and loss account, showing the proceeds from the...

Customs | Mere Location Of DRI Or Central Revenues Control Lab In Delhi Doesn't Confer Jurisdiction: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that merely because DRI headquarters or Central Revenues Control Laboratory (CRCL) are located in Delhi does not confer jurisdiction upon it to deal with Customs disputes arising in Tamil Nadu.A division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Renu Bhatnagar made the observation while dealing with the case of Petitioners, situated in Chennai, but challenging seizure memos in Delhi on the ground that its goods were tested at CRCL, Delhi.The judges observed,“The...

CESTAT Mumbai Holds Amendment Of Bills Of Entry U/S 149 Customs Act Is Legally Recognised Mode Of Modifying Assessment

The Mumbai Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has allowed an appeal filed by Drive India Enterprises Solutions Ltd., setting aside an order passed by the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals) which had rejected a refund of excess countervailing duty (CVD) paid on imported mobile handsets. A Bench comprising Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal Member (Technical) M.M. Parthiban held that once the Bills of Entry were reassessed and amended...

Extension Of Time To Adjudicate SCN U/S 28 Customs Act Need Not Be Communicated To Importer: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that the Customs Department need not communicate to an importer that the time for adjudicating a show cause notice issued to it has been extended by virtue of Section 28(9) of the Customs Act, 1962.Section 28(9) sets time limits for the Customs officer to finalize demand proceedings after issuing SCN for unpaid/short-levied duty, requiring determination within six months for normal cases (S. 28(1)) and one year for specific cases (S. 28(4)). The provision allows...

“Resources Completely Wasted Away”: Delhi High Court Fines Customs For Delaying Release Of Seized Goods Despite Order

The Delhi High Court has criticised the Customs Department for wasting public resources by withholding seized goods despite an adjudication order already having directed its unconditional release, eventually leading to avoidable litigation.A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Shail Jain observed,“The present is a case which shows how the resources of the Customs Department are completely being wasted away in such matters.”The Court was dealing with a petition moved by a traveller...

Levy Of Service Tax On 'Access To Amusement Facilities' Unconstitutional: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court held that the levy of service tax on 'access to amusement facilities' is unconstitutional, as the entire activity squarely falls within the State's taxing power under Entry 62 of List II (entertainments and amusements) of the Constitution of India.Justices A. Muhamed Mustaque and Harisankar V. Menon stated that the provisions of the Entertainments Tax Act also seek to impose tax on the entire consideration received by the assessee from their clients/customers. The question...

Customs Act | Penalty Cannot Be Sustained Solely On S. 108 Statements Without Compliance Of S. 138B: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court held that statements recorded under S. 108 of the Customs Act cannot form the basis for imposing penalties unless the mandatory procedural safeguards under Section 138B are complied with.Justices A. Muhamed Mustaque and Harisankar V. Menon opined that Section 138B is essentially in the form of a procedural safeguard regarding the admission of statements under Section 108 in evidence. When the safeguards under Section 138B have not been complied with, no question of...

Service Tax | Pairing & Testing Smart-Cards For Set-Top-Boxes Qualifies As Job Work: Bombay High Court Allows Credit

The Bombay High Court has upheld the Mumbai Tribunal's decision allowing Dish TV to retain CENVAT Credit on imported smart cards, which were used for testing and pairing with Set Top Boxes. A Division Bench comprising, Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Hiten S. Venegavkar dismissed the appeal filed by the Service Tax Department against order by the Mumbai, Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) that after verifying accounting records held in favour of Dish TV....

Central Excise | Packaged Drinking Water Cannot Be Assessed On MRP Basis U/S 4A: CESTAT Chennai

The Chennai Bench of Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that packaged drinking water is not liable to be assessed on MRP basis under Section 4A of the Central Excise Act unless it is specifically covered by a statutory notification. Section 4A of the Central Excise Act, 1944, provides a special procedure for the valuation of excisable goods based on their Retail Sale Price (RSP) or Maximum Retail Price (MRP), rather than the standard transaction value...

Excise | Captive Exemption Cannot Be Denied When Final Products Are Partly Cleared On Duty Payment & Partly Under Exemption: CESTAT

The Chennai Bench of Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that the captive exemption under Notification 67/95-CE remains available even if the final product is partly cleared on duty payment and partly under exemption. Central Excise Notification No. 67/95-CE provides an exemption from excise duty for specified inputs and capital goods that are manufactured and captively consumed within the same factory for the production of final, dutiable products. P....