' In this further appeal under section 196 of the Customs Act, 1969 an order of the Customs, Excise and Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal,Lahore Bench is assailed whereby a direction was made that the consignment imported by the present respondent may be assessed to customs duties and other taxes on the basis of the declared value.
2. The respondent imported consignment of ball bearings of various specifications from Korea.
Their value ranged from US $ 0.16 to 0.27 per piece. The Additional Collector of Customs proceeded to apply a rate US $ 0.45 per piece on the ground that the goods were of Chinese origin. Learned Tribunal expressed the view that the price of ball bearing of Chinese origin was of no relevance while determining the value of the consignment imported from Korea.
3. Heard the learned counsel for the parties at pre-admission stage. Learned counsel for the Revenue mainly assails the impugned order of the Tribunal on the ground that it had proceeded to decide the issue of valuation on the basis of office noting on the file and that no formal adjudication order was either made by the concerned authority nor conveyed to the appellant. In such situation, according to the learned counsel, when the adjudication proceedings were still pending before the Customs Authorities the learned Tribunal was not possessed with any jurisdiction to entertain the appeal and to decide the same.
4. Learned counsel for the respondent, however, controverts the, submissions made at the bit.
5. After hearing the learned counsel and ongoing through the impugned order we are not persuaded to entertain this appeal. We have noted that in para. 5 of the impugned order the Departmental Representative not only supported the order assailed before the Tribunal but also the ascertained value describing the same to be fair and normal. It means that the kind of objection now being addressed at the bar was never taken before the learned Tribunal.
6. The provisions of section 196 of the Customs Act, 1969 are absolutely clear which provide for an appeal to this Court. According to these provisions an appeal lies to this Court in respect of any question of law which arises out of an order recorded by the Tribunal under section 194-B. As observed earlier no kind of plea against the validity of the order, assailed before the Tribunal was ever raised. Therefore, the issue if an order recorded by an authority merely as a note on a file which was otherwise not properly conveyed to the assesse/importer can C hardly be said to have arisen out of the order of the Tribunal. In fact before the Tribunal the learned Departmental Representative out rightly supported the same. A question of law can be said to have arisen out of an order of the Tribunal only if either it was mooted and ruled upon by 0 the Tribunal or else it arose as a natural consequence thereof.
7. The department having owned and supported the impugned order before the Tribunal it cannot be allowed to turn about and to say that the order assailed could not be a subject-matter of appeal before the Tribunal.
8. Dismissed in limine.