The court upheld the Advance Ruling classifying 'Supari' under Chapter 21 of the Customs Tariff, emphasizing the Department's obligation to adhere to it and ordering the release of detained goods.

JUDGMENT

(Common Judgment of the Court was made by J.NISHA BANU, J.)

PRAYER: Writ Appeal filed under Clause 15 of the Letters Patent to set aside the order of the learned Judge made in W.P.No.7911 of 2023 dated 22.12.2023.

Since the issue involved in all these writ appeals are one and the same, they are disposed of by this common judgment.

2. This Court, while passing the common order in the batch of writ petitions in W.P.Nos.7905, 7907, 7909, 7911, 7915, 7918, 7960 & 11888 of 2023, and 26225, 27828 & 30426 of 2022 vide order dated 22.12.2023, has elaborately discussed the facts of the case in entirety. Therefore, this Court shall discuss the essential facts alone for the disposal of these appeals.

3. The essential facts of the case would run thus:-

3.1. Importer M/s.Isha Exim is a proprietary Firm involved in the business of imports and local sale of spices, condiments, food items, etc., more particularly import of betel nuts, from overseas. For the purpose of the said imports, the Importer was favoured with an Import Export Code No.0214014525 issued by the Office of the Zonal Director General of Foreign Trade, Calcutta. The Importer also holds a PAN No.AFYPK9659Q, issued by the Commissioner of Income Tax, West Bengal. Besides, the Importer has been registered under the provisions of GST bearing GSTIN No.19AFYPK9659QIZS.

3.2. During the course of its business, the Importer has imported 10 consignments of Betelnuts/ Arecanuts known as 'Supari', which is classified under CTH 21069030 and governed by an Advance Ruling No.AAR/44/Cus/02/2017 dated 31.03.2017 issued in terms of Section 28 E read with Section 28 J of the Customs Act, 1962.

3.3. While so, the appellant/Department preferred an appeal before the Custom Authority for Advance Rulings ( hereinafter referred as the 'AAR'), New Delhi against the aforesaid Advance Ruling obtained by the Importer.

However, vide order dated 31.03.2022, the appeal filed by the Department stood rejected by AAR as not admissible and not maintainable. Against the said order of rejection by the AAR, the Department preferred a writ petition in W.P.No.30426/2022, and this Court vide its order dated 22.12.2023 dismissed the department's writ petition, thereby upholding the Advance Ruling dated 31.03.2017 and the classification of the goods imported/ sought to be imported by the Importer under Chapter 21 and not under Chapter 8 of the Customs Tariff Heading.

3.4. In the meantime, the respondent/Importer filed Bill of Entry No.2163427 dated 25.08.2022 for clearance of imported goods declared as Betel nut products known as 'Supari' (Unflavoured Supari). However, on visual inspection of the said goods by the Shed Officers of the appellant/Department, the imported goods were found to be "dried Arecanuts/betelnuts in small/very small cut pieces and not Betelnut Preparations. Accordingly, the Shed Officers drew representative samples for testing and the Bill of Entry was forwarded to the Assessment Group for further necessary action.

3.5. While the action to determine the description was underway, the respondent Importer filed a Writ Petition No. 26225 of 2022 before this Court praying for provisional release of the impugned goods. During the pendency of the Writ Petition, the appellant/Department issued Show Cause Notice No.17/2022 dated 30.09.2022 under Section 124 of the Customs Act, 1962, proposing to re-determine the classification of the impugned goods under CTH 08028020 based on the findings of the CRCL Test Report and to confiscate the offending goods. Meanwhile, the respondent/ Importer filed one more Writ Petition No. 27828 of 2022 challenging the said SCN dated 30.09.2022 before this Court.

3.6. This Court, vide its Interim Order dated 16.11.2022 clubbed all the W.P. Nos. 26225, 27828 and 30426 of 2022 and ordered as follows:

"Let the samples be forwarded to (i) Doctors' Analytical Laboratories Pvt. Ltd., R.809, TTC Rabale MIDC, Thane-Belapur Road, Navi Mumbai-400 701 and

(i) Arecanut Research and Development F