P.K. CHOUDHARY:

All the three appeals have been filed by M/s Uttam Steel Alloys Pvt. Ltd.¹Appellant assailing the common Order-in-Original No.04/PC/NOIDA/CUS/2025-26 dated 22.07.2025 passed by the Ld. Commissioner of Customs, Noida Customs Commissionerate, to the extent the same :-

(i) Rejects Certificates of Origin against which goods were imported in terms of Notification No.46/2011-Cus dated 01.06.2011 from overseas suppliers namely Pioneer ULT Enterprises, Malaysia and Ruking International Company Ltd., Hongkong and disallows benefit of Notification No.46/2011-Cus dated 01.06.2011 in respect of 28 Bills of Entry;

(ii) Rejects the declared origin of goods in 24 Bills of Entry on the ground that the goods were of Chinese origin;

(iii) Rejects the value of imported goods in 79 Bills of Entry as Rs.17,80,05,344/-, under Rule 12 of the Customs Valuation (Determination of Value of Imported Goods) Rules, 2007 and re-determine the value of goods at Rs.29,51,82,320/- under Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 read with Customs Valuation (Determination of Value of Imported Goods) Rules, 2007;

(iv) Confirms demand and recovery of differential customs duty amounting to Rs.10,22,11,057/- short-levied/short-paid on goods under 79 Bills of Entry and appropriates amount of Rs.1,82,893/- deposited during investigation;

(v) Imposes penalty of Rs.10,22,11,057/- under Section 114A of the Act;

The facts of the case in brief are that the Appellant is a company engaged in export of steel products as well import of Cold Rolled Stainless Steel Coils²CRSS Coils from China, Malaysia, UAE, Indonesia and Hong Kong. For importing CRSS Coils, the Appellant negotiates with overseas suppliers telephonically, on receipt of commercial invoice and other documents the Appellant files Bill of Entry through CHA, after examination and assessment of imported goods, the goods are cleared for home consumption where after the Appellant remits the invoiced amount to the overseas supplier by banking channels and thereafter sell the imported goods in local market. Notification No.46/2011-Cus dated 01.06.2011, exempts goods specified in column (3) of the table appended to the notification and falling under tariff item specified in column (2) of table, from so much of duty of customs leviable thereon as is in excess of the amount calculated in column (4) of the said table, when imported into the Republic of India from a country listed in Appendix-I; or column (5) of the said table when imported into the Republic of India from a country listed in Appendix-II. However, exemption is subject to the condition that the importer proves to the satisfaction of the Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner of Customs, that the goods in respect of which benefit of exemption is claimed are of the origin of the countries as mentioned in Appendix-I, in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Tariff (Determination of Origin of Goods under the Preferential Trade Agreement between the Government of Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations³ASEAN and the Republic of India Rules, 2009. On the basis of some information received by the officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence⁴DRI that the Appellant is indulged in wrong availment of benefit of preferential rate of duty under Notification No.46/2011-Cus dated 01.06.2011 by producing fake Certificates of Origin at the time of import of CRSS Coils of various grades and thickness, the officers of DRI conducted search at the premises of Appellant on 13.05.2023. During the course of search proceedings, certain documents and electronic gadgets i.e. HP Laptop and iPhone belonging to director of Appellant and a hard disk belonging to his brother, were resumed under Panchnama dated 13.05.2023[RUD-1]. Forensic examination of electronic gadgets resumed from the premises of the Appellant was done on 13.06.2023 in the absence of director of the Appellant on 13.06.2023 under Panchnama dated 13.06.2023[RUD-2]. Thoug