JUDGMENT

Prathiba M. Singh, J.

1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

2. The present petition has been filed by the Petitioner under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, assailing the Show Cause Notice (hereinafter, ‘SCN’) dated 7th July, 2023 issued by the Office of the Principal Commissioner of Customs (Import). Vide the present petition, the Petitioner has challenged the delayed adjudication of the SCN dated 07th July, 2023.

3. The brief background of the present case is that the Petitioner had imported Aluminium foil and had availed of exemption benefit of preferential rate of duty by submitting Certificates of Origin (hereinafter, ‘COO’) from Malaysia and Thailand under the ASEAN–India Free Trade Agreement, in terms of Notification No. 46/2011-Cus dated 01st June, 2011.

4. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (hereinafter, ‘DRI’) had issued an Alert circular being Circular No. 02/2021 dated 10th September, 2021 in respect of the import of steel products from Malaysia and Thailand on the basis that the COOs were not authentic. The COOs of the Petitioner were verified and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (hereinafter, ‘MITI’) vide email dated 07th December, 2021 had stated that the COOs are not authentic and that they had never received the applications for issuance of COOs from the 2 entities, i.e., M/s Ezy Metal Enterprise and MH Megah Maju Enterprise, who were the suppliers to the Petitioner.

5. The Petitioner had obtained supplies from 06th July, 2018 to 06th March, 2020. The SCN was then issued to the Petitioner on 07th July, 2023 that the exemption benefits deserve to be rejected and the demands ought to be paid by the Petitioner. Penalty was also proposed to be imposed upon the Petitioner.

6. After the issuance of the SCN, some RUDs were claimed by the Petitioner, which the Petitioner alleged that were not provided. According to the ld. Counsel for Petitioner, the SCN did not proceed for one year and notice for personal hearing was finally received on 10th October, 2024 which, according to the Petitioner, was beyond the prescribed period of one year under Section 28(9) of the Customs Act, 1962. Hence, the challenge in this petition is on the ground that the extension, if any, granted has not been intimated to the Petitioner, and, therefore, the SCN cannot be adjudicated.

7. In the present petition, the following order was passed by this Court on 21st October, 2024:

“3. The petitioner seeks to impugn the further proceedings initiated pursuant to show cause notice dated 07.07.2023 (hereafter the impugned SCN) on the ground that the time for passing an order under Section 28 of the Customs Act, 1962 has since expired.

4. Mr. Harpreet Singh, learned counsel appearing for the respondent seeks time to obtain instructions and if necessary, to file a counter affidavit.

5. Let the same be filed within a period of three weeks from date.

6. It is clarified that if any order is passed pursuant to the impugned SCN, the same shall be subject to the final outcome of the aforesaid challenge.

7. List on 20.11.2024.”

8. The counter affidavit has been filed by the Respondent, which completely shows a different chronology of events. The chronology of events, as per the counter affidavit is as under: