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TMI Blog2021 (8) TMI 316X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s is on record. However, no ruling was actually issued by the erstwhile AAR and an appointment of the Customs Authority for Advance Rulings under Section 28EA of the Act, the said application has been transferred to the CAAR, Mumbai in terms of the provisions of Section 28F (3) of the Act. 2. On scrutiny of the said transferred application by the Secretary to the CAAR, Mumbai, it appeared that the time limit of three months as provided under the statute was already over when the application was actually received in the secretariat of the CAAR, Mumbai, and therefore, a communication was sent to the applicant to re-submit the application as envisaged under sub-clause (I) of clause (6) of the Customs Authority for Advance Rulings Regulations, 2021. The applicant, vide their communication dated 01.03.2021 (received on 24.03.2021) re-submitted their application. On scrutiny, it appeared that the applicant has left the Entry No. 13 in the format CAAR - I, prescribed in terms of section 28-I(1) of the Aet read with regulation of the regulations, unfilled, and therefore, it was advised that they rectify the said omission. In reply, the applicant mentioned four entry ports, i.e., Principal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... advance rulings on multiple products in one application, it was explained that the products are similar and therefore, have been grouped together. Time was sought by the applicant's counsel to present additional submissions, 4. The additional submissions have been received on 24.05.2021. In the said communication, they have reiterated their earlier arguments w.r.t. the issue of the date of application. They have also submitted case laws in support of their contention that they shouldn't suffer the consequences for delay on part of the erstwhile AAR. In respect of the issue of mentioning multiple principal commissioners/commissioners of customs, all their earlier arguments including the reference to the General Clauses Act have been reiterated. On the issue of seeking advance rulings on multiple products in one application, it is argued that there is no legal bar in doing so. 5. The scheme of advance rulings in customs was introduced by virtue of section 103 of the Finance Act, 1999. It is contained in the chapter VB of the Customs Act, 1962. Major amendments/deletions/substitutions were carried out to the scheme of advance rulings in the Finance Acts of2017 and 2018. Prior to su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r part. Therefore, the present proceedings would be deemed to be a continuation of the earlier proceedings and not a fresh application, as was initially held. The significance of this line of reasoning would be that the applicant would remain eligible for receiving advance rulings in respect of those products which have been imported after filing the advance ruling application on 03.06.2019. the definition of 'advance ruling' as per clause (b) of the section 28E of the Act is that, it is a written decision on any of the questions referred to in section 28H raised by the applicant in his application in respect of any goods prior to its importation or exportation. Therefore, a reasonable interpretation of the definition would lead one to the conclusion that once application for advance ruling has been filed, and there is a delay in rendering a decision, as has happened in this very instance, imports made after filing the advance ruling application would not take away the right of the applicant to receive a ruling. 6. In the application originally filed before the erstwhile AAR in New Delhi, no port of import, i.e., a principal commissioner / commissioner, as referred to in sections ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the rebuttals/rejoinders of the applicant would be time consuming and would make it difficult to render advance rulings within the time prescribed in the statute. In my view, applicants should avoid such tactics which would only result in delay. I understand that such a strategy is adopted specifically because of the wordings of section 28J of the Act, as is evident from the submissions of the applicant. I feel that such an apprehension is unfounded. The settled position of law, as it stands now, flows from the decision of the Hon'ble High Court of Madras in the case of M/s. ISHA EXIM reported at 2018 (13) G.S.T.L. 273. 7. In the present application before me, advance ruling has been sought in respect of 16 items grouped under 4 categories, i.e., vitamins, carotenoids, organic acids, clay products/GIycinates/Omega-6's(CLA). It is the applicant's contention that these are animal feed supplements. The basic issue for determination is whether the 16 items grouped under 4 categories would merit classification under heading 23.09 of the tariff as animal feed supplements or they are required to be classified separately, e.g., vitamins under heading 29.36, carotenoids under 32.04, organ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... are so similar that they can be combined in a single application. For example, I had the occasion to deal with the issue of classification of API supari, boiled supari, chikni supari, unflavoured supari and flavoured supari in one application. In respect of all the above, the starting raw material is raw areca nut/betel nut, which then undergoes the processes of cleaning, sorting, removal of impurities, garbling, cutting etc. In such a case, grouping several items in one application can perhaps be justified. However, so far as the present proceedings are considered, any product, to be eligible for classification as an animal feed supplement, must satisfy' the conditions prescribed for that purpose. The relevant chapter note reads as under: - 'Heading 2309 includes products o/a kind used in animal feeding, not elsewhere specified or included, obtained by processing vegetable or animal materials to such an extent that they have lost the essential characteristics of the original material, other than vegetable waste, vegetable residues and by-products of such processing.' However, I find nothing in the application before me to suggest that the mandate of the chapter note reproduced ..... 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