9911796707
TMI Blog2021 (10) TMI 254X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... four writ petitions. 2. In this order, for the sake of convenience and clarity 'WP.No.14776 of 2021' shall be referred to as 'I WP'; 'WP.No.14779 of 2021' shall be referred to as 'II WP'; WP.No.18513 of 2021 shall be referred to as 'III WP' and 'WP.No.18517 of 2021' shall be referred to as 'IV WP'. 3. Mr.Hari Radhakrishnan, learned counsel for writ petitioner in all the four writ petitions and Ms.K.G.Usha Rani, learned Junior standing counsel for Customs and Central Excise [hereinafter 'Revenue counsel' for the sake of convenience and clarity] on behalf of all the respondents in all the four captioned writ petitions are before this Virtual Court. 4. The entire matter turns o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ring on a video conferencing platform. In support of his contention, learned counsel pressed into service a circular being circular No.55/2020-Cus., dated 17.12.2020 issued by 'Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs' [hereinafter 'CBIT&C' for the sake of convenience and clarity]. It may not be necessary to extract and reproduce the entire circular and it will suffice to reproduce paragraph No.2(a) of the circular which reads as follows: '2. After a series of consultations with various stakeholders, such as the NACs, trade and industry associations, it is felt that there is a need to further enhance the efficiency of the process involved in Faceless Assessment. With a view to achieve this objective, certain key are ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r, in the event that the officer concerned is required to raise a second (or more) query/ies on the same Bill of Entry, approval shall be taken from the respective Additional Commissioner/Joint Commissioner, with full justification thereof. Needless to say, this approval should be given only as an exception and not as a matter of routine. Pr. Commissioners/ Commissioners across the NACs may ensure that minimal queries are raised by the concerned FAGs and may devise their own mechanism to regularly monitor the same, in a manner that needless and repeated queries, which have the effect of delaying assessments, are avoided. (iii) Based on the reply to the query, the FAG may either accept the self-assessment or proceed to re-assess the Bill o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ragraph No.5.4 of the aforementioned circular captioned 'Speaking Order' reads as follows: '5.4 Speaking Order: (i) For any re-assessment done by the Faceless Assessment Group, which is at variance with the self-assessment done by the importer and in cases other than those where the importer confirms his acceptance of the said re-assessment electronically in reply to the query raised by the assessing officer, the Faceless Assessment Groups shall pass a speaking order on the reassessment, within fifteen days from the date of re-assessment of the bill of entry, as prescribed in section 17(5). (ii) The Faceless Assessment Groups shall provide an opportunity to be heard to the importer, in accordance with the principles of nat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o whether personal hearing has to be granted in case of re-assessment, only in cases where the importer asks for personal hearing is left open in this case. In other words, the question whether circular No.9/2020 dated 05.06.2020 is subsumed by circular No.55/2020 dated 17.12.2020 qua personal hearing is left open. 10. Learned Revenue counsel also submits that alternate remedy is available to writ petitioner by way of statutory appeal under Section 128 of said Act. Exceptions have been carved out by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Commercial Steel Limited case [Civil Appeal No 5121 of 2021, The Assistant Commissioner of State Tax and Others Vs. M/s Commercial Steel Limited] rendered recently on 03.09.2021. Law in this regard i.e., law regardi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... thew K.C. reported in (2018) 3 SCC 85]. In the light of personal hearing being imperative (in the cases on hand) exception qua NJP [paragraph 11(ii) of Commercial Steel case law] becomes a strong as steel and brings it out of the rigour of alternate remedy rule. 12. Before concluding, it is necessary to record that the learned counsel for writ petitioner submitted that provisional assessment and re-export may please be permitted and writ petitioner is willing to provide 100% security by way of bank guarantee. It is open to writ petitioner to make this plea before third respondent, if the writ petitioner chooses to do so and the third respondent shall consider the same on its own merits and in accordance with law. To be noted, the learned c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
