CESTAT Delhi Rejects Customs Case Against PU Leather Importers Over Unsealed Laptop Evidence

The Principal Bench of the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), New Delhi has set aside customs duty demands and penalties imposed on multiple importers of PU leather fabric. It held that electronic records retrieved from an unsealed laptop kept in investigators' custody could not be relied upon, as the department had failed to follow the legal procedure required to authenticate electronic evidence under the Customs Act (Section 138C). A bench of President Justice...

Mumbai CESTAT Quashes Customs Demands On SOL Mobiles, Says Phone Activation Is “Configuration”, Not “Use”

On 12 May, the Mumbai Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) set aside the customs demands and penalties on SOL Mobiles Private Limited and its Vice-President (Finance & Accounts) Manjit Jha, holding that unlocking and activating mobile phones before export amounted only to “configuration” and not “use” under the Customs and Central Excise Duties Drawback Rules. Judicial Member S.K. Mohanty and Technical Member M.M. Parthiban held that the customs...

CESTAT Mumbai Quashes Recovery Against Hindustan Copper Over 23-Year Delay and No Show Cause Notice

The Mumbai Bench of the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 7 May set aside recovery proceedings against Hindustan Copper Ltd., holding that adjudication conducted nearly 23 years after the demand notice was issued was legally unsustainable and violated principles of natural justice. Judicial Member Ajay Sharma, allowed the appeal and set aside the Order-in-Appeal passed by the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Mumbai. The Tribunal held: “The department's...

CESTAT Bangalore Holds Chocolate Flavour Not A Cocoa Preparation, Quashes Customs Duty Demand

The Bangalore Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 5 May held that the chocolate flavouring substances meant to be added to food cannot be classified as “chocolate and other food preparations containing cocoa” under Customs Tariff Heading 18069090. Judicial Member Justice P.A. Augustian and Technical Member Pullela Nageswara Rao set aside the customs duty demand, interest, and penalties against Prova Flavours India Pvt Ltd and allowed its appeal against an...

CESTAT Mumbai Bars Revenue From Recovering Education Cesses In Cash After MEIS Scrip Payment

The Mumbai Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal has dismissed Revenue appeals seeking to recover Education Cess and Secondary & Higher Education Cess in cash from importers. These importers had already paid the amounts using duty credit scrips issued under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), an export incentive programme under India's Foreign Trade Policy that rewarded exporters with duty credits. “The attempt by Revenue to recover the same in cash...

Computer Cabinet Cases Are Not Incomplete Computers; CESTAT Allahabad Quashes Customs Action Against Importer

The Allahabad Bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 5 May held that computer cabinet cases lacking essential components such as a CPU, RAM, and hard disk cannot be treated as incomplete or unfinished computer systems merely on account of the presence of other parts like motherboards, fans, wiring, and power supply units. Judicial Member P.K. Choudhary and Technical Member Rajeev Tandon allowed the appeal by Daya Exports and set aside confiscation of goods,...

CESTAT Ahmedabad Sets Aside Customs Penalty On Rodex Partner As Firm and Partner Can't Both Be Penalised

The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal at Ahmedabad has set aside a ₹25 lakh customs penalty imposed on a Rodex International partner, holding that he could not be separately penalised once the partnership firm had already been penalised for the same contravention. It, however, reduced another penalty against him to ₹2 lakh in the same concealment case. “I hold that no separate penalty can be imposed on the appellant under Section 112(a)" of Customs Act. A bench of...

CESTAT Delhi Quashes Tax Demand Against IndiGo Holds Aircraft Generators Attract 18% IGST, Not 28%

The New Delhi bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has quashed tax demands and penalties against InterGlobe Aviation over the classification of aircraft generators imported for use in IndiGo aircraft. It held that generators used with turboprop and turbofan gas turbine engines cannot be classified as equipment used with spark-ignition or compression-ignition internal combustion engines, meaning they attract 18% IGST under the classification claimed by...

Mandarin (Kinow) Concentrate Classified As Residual Citrus Entry For Duty, Not Orange Juice: CESTAT Mumbai

On 8 May, the Mumbai Bench of the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that Mandarin (Kinow) Frozen Concentrate falls under the residual entry for “juice of any other single citrus fruit” under Tariff Item 2009 3900 and not under the “orange juice” category under Tariff Item 2009 1100, thereby upholding the higher rate of customs duty. President Justice Dilip Gupta and Technical Member P. Anjani Kumar upheld the Revenue's classification and sustained the duty...

Customs Cannot Deny Interest On Refunds By Calling Applications “Incomplete”: CESTAT Mumbai

On 8 May, the Mumbai Bench of the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that customs authorities cannot delay refund claims for years and later deny statutory interest by calling them “incomplete”. A Bench comprising Judicial Member Dr. Suvendu Kumar Pati ruled that interest under Section 27A of the Customs Act, 1962 becomes payable three months after the refund application is filed, even if the department later raises deficiency memos or seeks additional...

CESTAT Ahmedabad Sets Aside Customs Duty On Shipping Corporation, Says HPCL Certified Diesel Duty Paid

The Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Ahmedabad, has partly allowed an appeal filed by The Shipping Corporation of India Ltd., setting aside the duty demand on diesel oil supplied to a vessel. The tribunal held that the Commissioner (Appeals) erred in rejecting a certificate issued by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) certifying the supply as duty paid, without assigning any cogent reason. A bench of Judicial Member Dr. Ajaya Krishna Vishvesha set aside...

CESTAT Bangalore Holds Aerosol Generator Not Controlling Device, Allows ITC Appeal Against Higher Duty

The Bangalore Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 30 April held that no higher customs duty is payable on the imported “Monodisperse Aerosol Generator”, and set aside the Department's demand for differential duty along with interest and penalty. The Division Bench comprising Judicial Member P.A. Augustian and Technical Member Pullela Nageswara Rao was hearing ITC Limited's appeal against an order of the Commissioner (Appeals), which had upheld reclassification of...