9911796707
TMI Blog1996 (10) TMI 235X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... manufacture and it was found that the value of the machinery as declared by the appellants was low and they have obtained the necessary information from the manufacturer who have intimated that the price of the machine when new was approximately DM 1.5 million. It is in this background that the authorities felt that the value of the goods declared by the appellants was not acceptable and proceeded to fix the value in terms of Rule 8 of the Customs Valuation (Determination of Price of Imported goods) Rules, 1988 read with Section 14 of the Customs Act. It is against this fixation of the value and the consequent action taken against the appellants for confiscation of the machinery and levy of penalty on the appellants that the appellants are ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... price at which the second-hand machines have been offered for sale. He pleaded that so far as trading in second-hand machines is concerned, the prices are decided upon basically between the buyer and the seller across the table after inspection of the machinery and what the machine could possibly fetch at the relevant time of supply. He pleaded that these machines do not command any market there and are basically intended for export. In this connection, we have perused the chartered engineers certificate which has been filed. We observe that inasmuch as this chartered engineers certificate does not reflect the correct value of the machine. The department had therefore discarded this piece of evidence and resorted to valuation of the machi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ailable. He has however no information to furnish in this regard and has stated that this question was not raised and therefore he does not have the necessary information. The machine has been lying for sometime and there is no clear basis set out by the revenue in this regard, the machine may be released provisionally after examination of the same by the authorities as prayed for during the adjudication proceedings and which was not done and thereafter the matter could be decided by the learned lower authority after making necessary enquiries taking into consideration the various factors relevant for arriving at the assessable value. 3. The learned SDR while confirming the fact that the machines earlier imported by the appellants had bee ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... milar goods. Valuation of second- hand machinery and used motor vehicles may also have to be done under this method. The principles of depreciation laid down, if from the value of new machines/vehicles under the existing instructions could be applied in such cases. However, before applying this method, all other methods under Rules 4 to 7 will have to be ruled out. We observe what has been stated thereunder is resorted to the depreciation method should be applied only after all other methods under Rules 4 to 7 are ruled out. We observe that there is no discussion in the order of the learned lower authority as to why the methods set out under Rules 4 to 7 have been ruled out and resort had to be only to the Depreciation method. Even other ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an be given a basis for working out the assessable value. If all second-hand machineries are to be assessed based on the depreciation method then the valuation rules would lose their validity. Before resorting to the depreciation method, the applicability of methods as set out under Rules 4 to 7 have to be ruled out and even after applying other relevant factors namely, market conditions as prevailing in the country of supply for supply of second-hand machines should be taken into consideration by making enquiries both in India and abroad from those who deal with these machineries. In the present case, we find that in the case of earlier importation made provisional assessment has been done and this shows that if the machinery in the range ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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