Per: M.M. PARTHIBAN

These appeals have been filed by M/s Danish Impex, Gadag, Karnataka (herein after, referred to as “the appellants”, for short) assailing Order-in-Appeals No.509 (Gr.IIC-F)/2021(JNCH)/Appeals dated 25.6.2021 and No. 1049(GR-IIC-F)/2023(JNCH)Appeals dated 05.10.2023 (herein after, referred to as “the impugned order”, for short), both passed by the same authority i.e. Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Nhava Sheva, Mumbai Zone-II, but different officers holding that position.

2.1 The brief facts of the case are that the appellants are engaged in import and sale of industrial solvents, and for this purpose they had filed Bill of Entry (B/E) No. 2393695 dated 12.03.2019 declaring the imported goods which were exported from United Arab Emirates (UAE) as “Industrial Composite Solvent” and by classifying it under Customs Tariff Item (CTI) 3814 0010, for a total quantity of 108.120 MTs in six containers. The said self-assessed B/E was allowed customs clearance under Customs Automated System on the basis of risk evaluation through appropriate selection criteria commonly called as Risk Management System (RMS), without further verification of self-assessment or for examination of the goods. The Central Intelligence Unit (CIU) of JNCH, had collected certain intelligence and on that basis the said imported goods in all six containers were physically examined by them. On such prima-facie examination by the CIU officers under panchanama dated 22.03.2019, it was found that the imported goods are colourless, petroleum smelling liquid and therefore took six representative sealed samples (RSS) and sent for chemical testing by the Deputy Director of Central Revenue Control Laboratory (CRCL) commonly called as DYCC Laboratory on 26.03.2019. On receipt of the test reports of DYCC stating that the imported goods were tested for eight specified parameters and these meet the specifications/requirements of IS 1459:1974 for Superior Kerosene Oil (SKO), the said imported goods were seized by the department on 25.04.2019.

2.2 On further investigation including search of the premises of customs broker, number of documents were recovered and statements of persons concerned were also recorded. Upon submission of the request by the appellant importer for re-testing of samples of imported goods, representative samples were drawn and forwarded to CRCL laboratory at New Delhi on 09.08.2019. The test reports dated 20.11.2019 received indicated that the imported goods meet the requirement/specifications as per IS 1459:2018 for kerosene/Superior Kerosene Oil.

2.3 On the above basis, the CIU investigation concluded that the appellants importer had involved in smuggling of Superior Kerosene Oil falling under Customs Tariff Item (CTI) 2710 1910 into India, by mis-declaring the goods as ‘Industrial Composite Solvent’ classifiable under CTI 3814 0010, since as per the import policy prescribed under Schedule I -- Import Policy ITC (HS) 2017, ‘Superior Kerosene Oil’ falling under CTI 2710 1910 is allowed to be imported only by State Trading Enterprises (STEs) i.e., IOC, BPC, HPCL and IBP. On the above basis, Show Cause Notices (SCN) dated 20.01.2020 was issued, wherein the Department had proposed to reject the classification of goods imported under the aforesaid Bill of Entry, and had proposed for reclassification of the same from Industrial Composite Solvent’ to ‘‘Superior Kerosene Oil’ (SKO) falling under CTH 2710 1910, on the basis of the test reports and other evidences.

2.4 The appellants were also called to show cause as to why with regard to the consignment imported vide B/E No. 2393695 dated 12.03.2019:

(i) the declared description of the goods as “Industrial Composite Solvent” should not be rejected and held as “Kerosine/ Superior Kerosene Oil”;

(ii) the declared classification should not be rejected and re-classified under CTH 2710 1910 of the Customs Tariff Act;

(iii) the value of the goods improperly imported should not be determined as per