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TMI Blog1985 (9) TMI 191X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ommon order. All the appeals are against the order passed by the Collector of Customs (Appeals), New Delhi dated 30-8-1983. 2. The respondents herein are importers of Apricot Dry/Pista Kernel/ Figs Dry as detailed in the Annexure to this order. They filed Bills of Entry and valued the goods as per the invoices relating to the consignments. The Assistant Collector examined the assessments and on the basis of the wholesale market rate quoted by the Economics Times , and the Financial Express", worked out the deduced landed cost for purposes of customs duty. These rates are also given in the Annexure to this order. The respective respondents were required to show cause as to why the goods imported should not be valued and assessed to duty ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er assessment. He therefore held that the orders of the Assistant Collector could not be sustained and allowed the appeals. The Revenue has preferred these appeals. 4. Shri M. Chandrasekharan, Advocate appeared for the appellant and urged that if Section 14 (1)(a) of the Customs Act was not applicable then alone Section (14)(1) (b) could be attracted. He relied on the decision reported in 1984 (15) E.L.T. 137 (Tribunal) [O.E.N. (India) Ltd., Cochin v. Collector of Customs and Central Excise, Cochin] where it was held that in certain situations the Custom House authorities had no other option but to resort to fix the values of the goods under Section 14(1) (b) applying the best judgment formula. The learned Counsel urged that there was no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd the mandatory provisions of 129-A (6) of the Customs Act had not been followed. He drew our attention to the decisions reported in AIR 1973 Patna 389 (Ram Padarath Singh v. Baidyanath Prasad and others), AIR 1944 Patna 207 (Jadav Gillua v. Suraj Narain Jha and others), and AIR 1975 Patna 107 (Deo Sharan Mahto v. Ram Bilash Singh and others). On the legal aspects he emphasised that there was no proof under Section 14(1)(a) and that in the absence of any special relationship between the buyer and the sellers, the concept of deduced landed cost should not have been invoked. The respondents have filed the certificate from the Afghan Government regarding the imports and if the appellants had any grievance, the Embassy authorities should have ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a High Court (cited supra) and urged that the appeals are liable to be rejected. It must be stated that the rulings relied on by him are not applicable to the present facts for those citations concerned defects under the Bihar Panchayat Elections Rules, 1959 wherein verification was mandatory and in the absence of proper verification the Election petition had to be dismissed. There was no provision for amendment of the verification either. Rule 6A of CEGAT (Procedure) Rules, 1982 contemplates verification. But there is no provision specifying that in the absence of a proper verification the appeal was liable to be rejected. In AIR 1931 Allahabad 507 (Wali Mohammad Khan v. Ishak Ali Khan and others) it was held by the Special Bench that the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is the sole consideration for the sale or offer for sale. As laid down by the Supreme Court in 1983 E.L.T. 2177 (Satellite Engineering Ltd. v. Union of India and others) it is clear that the value of the goods for the purpose of levying duty shall be fixed with reference to the price at which such goods are sold in the course of international trade. In other words, the transaction must be at arm s length and not entered for extra commercial considerations. Section 14(b) covers residuary instances where the price is not as certainable under Section 14(a). Under Section 14(b), when the price is not ascertainable, the nearest ascertained equivalent of the value has to be determined under the rules. A reading of Section 14(a) and 14(b) disclose ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in the course of International trade. Unless the legal nexus is established, it cannot be taken that the price set out in these publications alone would correspond to the price in the course of international trade. 10. The department has mainly relied on the difference in the value and have urged that the value worked out as per the newspapers was about 81% higher than the prices mentioned in the invoices. If the department wanted to make this as a ground, they should have set out this in the show cause notice. We notice that the same has not been done in certain cases. The Collector of Customs has given cogent and convincing reasons why the value claimed by the department should be accepted- There is no reason to discard the prices set ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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