Valuation of used medical equipment imported under a certificate that goods have no commercial value.

PJ/Case Laws/2012-13/1383

Case:-DR RAJKUMARI SUNDAR, C S I HOSPITAL, REV DEVASAHAYAM, A P PREMKUMAR VS COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (SEAPORT-IMPORTS), CHENNAI

Citation: - 2013-TIOL-19-CESTAT-MAD

Brief facts: - The Applicants are charitable hospital who imported used medical equipments which were donated by some foreign resident to the applicants. At the time of import of goods, a Chartered Engineer was appointed for the purpose of valuation of goods and payment of duty. The Chartered Engineer valued the goods and on the basis of that valuation, duty was paid, goods were released. Later on, during the search, one document dt. 9.4.2002 was found in the records of the applicants and on the basis of that document, a show-cause notice was issued for enhancement of the value and for short payment of duty. The value was enhanced on the basis of document available in their records and differential duty was demanded. Penalties on all the applicants were imposed for misdeclaration of value of the impugned goods.

Appellant’s Contention:- The learned counsel for the applicants submits that applicants are a charitable institution and imported the impugned goods as donation from a foreign resident. There was no transaction value of the impugned goods and as there was no transaction value was available, the Chartered Engineer valued the goods and, accordingly, they paid the duty. The document available during the course of search cannot be relied upon because on the face of that document, it is mentioned that the impugned goods have no commercial value. Further, these goods are secondhand and used goods. Therefore, the document cannot be relied upon.

Respondent’s Contention:- The learned A.R for the Revenue strongly opposes the contention of the learned counsel and submits that in the document itself, the value of goods has been mentioned and that document was not shown at the time of clearance of the goods. Therefore, this document is more relevant to arrive at the correct assessable value.

Reasoning of Judgment: - The Tribunal held that in this case, the goods have been donated by foreign resident with the certificate that the goods have no commercial value and the goods are also used one. So the value shown in the document is merely to bring the fact that they have made donation of such huge amount. Thus it is a case of hundred percent waivers so there is no requirement of pre deposit of entire amount of duty and penalty on the main applicant and penalties on co-applicants and so the same are stayed, recovery thereof pending till the disposal of the appeals. The MISC applications filed by the applicants are also disposed off in the same manner.

Decision:- Application disposed off.

Comment:- This case highlights the fact that sometimes irrelevant documents also create trouble and become the basis for raising demand.

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PJ/Case Laws/2012-13/1383

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