A.K.SIKRI,J. - (1.) The short issue which is involved in these appeals is as to whether ship demurrage charges paid by the respondent/importer (hereinafter referred to as the 'assessee') on the import of the goods are to be included in the assessable value of the goods imported for customs duty purposes. In order to decide this issue, facts can be taken from Civil Appeal Nos. 2691-2728 of 2009.
(2.) The assessee in these appeals is M/s. Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited. It had imported 94204.425 MTs (ullage quantity measurement of vessel) of Crude Oil vide Bill of Entry No. 0924, dated May 23, 2001 and warehoused the same into their shore tanks. The same was cleared under provisional assessment by executing P.D. Bond, pending production of original documents by the assessee and reply to further queries by the Department. The provisional assessment was taken up for finalisation based on this Court's decision which upheld the order passed by the CEGAT in the case of M/s. HPCL and M/s. NOCIL, wherein it was held that customs duty should be levied on the quantity that is pumped into the shore tanks in terms of Board's Circular No. 96/2002, dated December 27, 2002. The shore tank quantity of Crude Oil is considered as the relevant quantity for the purpose of assessment. On scrutiny of the documents filed by the assessee, it was found that Bill of Lading quantity was taken as the Cost and Freight (FOB) component of the relevant value for assessment as per Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962. Therefore, irrespective of the fact whether there is shortage in the quantity received compared with the Bill of Lading quantity or not, the importer has to pay the duty on transaction value, i.e. the full value paid for the Bill of Lading quantity. On that basis, the customs authorities took the view that the declared shore tank quantity is to be corrected, which worked out to 93756.154 Mts.
(3.) We are not concerned with this aspect in the present appeals. That issue has been raised in other batch of appeals, which we have heard today and judgment is reserved.;