2026-VIL-1005-BOM-CU
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CUSTOMS High Court Cases

Customs - Tariff classification of Battery Management Systems and Cell Supervisory Circuits, Applicability of Printed Circuit Board Assembly exclusion, Requirement for counter-expert opinion when challenging specialist opinion - Petitioner imported Battery Management Systems and Cell Supervisory Circuits for manufacturing electric vehicle lithium-ion battery packs and classified them under Customs Tariff Heading 9032 8990 and 8537 1000/8537 1090 claiming concessional customs duty at 2.5% per cent under Serial No.512 of Notification No.50/2017-Customs - Department proposed re-classification of the products as Printed Circuit Board Assemblies under Tariff Heading 8507 9090 which are excluded from the said exemption, alleging the Petitioner had mis-classified the goods with intention to evade payment of applicable customs duty and demanded differential duty of Rs.14,07,47,215 along with applicable interest and penalty - Whether the products can be classified as Printed Circuit Board Assemblies excluded from the Exemption Notification when the Petitioner relied upon a detailed expert opinion based on physical inspection and component-level analysis concluding that the products cannot be understood as PCBA used in manufacture of battery packs - HELD - When classification or taxability turns on specialised technical or scientific considerations, the adjudicating authority is bound to meaningfully evaluate expert opinion and if it seeks to disagree therewith it must do so only on the basis of commensurate expert or scientific material and not on subjective assumptions. The impugned order has simply brushed aside the opinion of the expert institute by observing that it is not relevant without a reasoned technical rebuttal or counter-expert opinion - In a case where the expert's opinion is based on physical inspection of the products and detailed component-level analysis, the same should not have been brushed aside lightly by substituting the adjudicating authority's own technical perception without a reasoned technical rebuttal. The Exemption Notification gives an impetus to manufacturing of battery packs for electric vehicles in India and the question of what is the worth of the expert report and should it have been discredited without a scientific base or counter-expert opinion is material - The impugned order is quashed and set aside and the matter is remanded to the Adjudicating Authority for fresh adjudication of the show cause notice on merits and in accordance with law, with liberty to the Department to obtain counter-expert opinion and thereafter proceed to analyse the expert report - The impugned order is quashed and set aside – The writ petition is allowed
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