GOLDEN IRON AND STEEL FORGING Vs. CC

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appeal is directed against the impugned order captioned above passed by the Collector of Customs (Appeals), Mumbai. The Appellant imported a consignment of second -hand single spindle automats from U.K. and declared a value for assessment @ Sterling 9850 CIF. The goods being second -hand were examined before assessing to duty and it would appear that the Shed Appraiser who examined the goods was of the opinion that the machines have to be assessed at an enhanced value which he fixed at Rs. 5,90,563/ - as against the value declared by the Appellant as Rs. 4,64,991/ -. After paying duty on such enhanced value the Appellant preferred an appeal against the assessment made on the Bill of Entry before the Collector (Appeals) who has passed the impugned order holding that the Appellant ought to have obtained speaking order for the enhanced assessable value from the Assistant Collector of Customs and in the absence of any contention as to how the value determined by the Custom House is not correct, the Collector (Appeals) rejected the appeal.

(2.) SHRI Manjit Singh Gupta, Learned Consultant for the Appellant submitted that the Appellant have declared the value in the Bill of Entry for the machine as per invoice from the suppliers and the value has also been certified by a Chartered Engineer. He further pointed out that in a similar instance of enhancement of assessable value based on Shed appraiser's report without reference to Chartered Engineer's Certificate, the matter had gone upto Collector (Appeals) and on remand by that authority the Assistant Collector of Customs had held that the declared value based on Chartered Engineer's certificate ought to be accepted in the absence of any justification in the Shed Appraiser's report as to why Chartered Engineer's Certificate should not be relied upon.

(3.) WE have heard Shri A. Ashokan, the Learned DR. We find that in this case the lower authorities have assessed the duty by enhancing the value only on the basis of Shed Appraiser's opinion. The Appellant have submitted a certificate from a Chartered Engineer which has certified that the condition of the machine is very good having residual life of about 7 to 10 years. He also gives year of manufacture of machine as 1987 and he has certified after considering the condition of the machine the value thereof is fair. There is nothing on record to indicate as to why this certificate by the Chartered Engineer is not found acceptable or reliable. We also note that it is the general practice of the Custom House in case of second hand machinery to call for the Chartered Engineers certificate to certify the value declared as well as to ascertain the residual life of the machine. In the absence of any ground for accepting the estimate of the Shed Appraiser on examination of the machine in preference to the details in the Chartered Engineer's certificate regarding the valuation of the machine, we find, that the impugned order is unsustainable. Hence the Learned Consultant had also rightly cited and relied upon the Tribunal decisions in the case Komal Offset v. Collector of Customs ; and Damehra Steels and Forging (P) Ltd. v. Collector wherein the Tribunal has held that certificate appraising value issued by Chartered Engineer unless cannot be rejected by the department without proving contemporaneous import and in such cases the value in the Chartered Engineer's certificate should be accepted for assessment under Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962. In this view of the matter the impugned order is set aside and the appeal is allowed. The Appellant will be entitled to consequential relief as per law. (Dictated in Court).