CBIC Notifies Common Adjudicating Authority for Multiple SVB-Based SCNs Issued to Hewlett-Packard Enterprise India

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued Notification No. 50/2026-Customs (N.T.) dated 05 June 2026, restructuring the adjudication process for a series of customs show cause notices (SCNs) issued to Hewlett-Packard Enterprise India Private Limited. These SCNs emanate from a Special Valuation Branch (SVB) investigation, captured in SVB Investigation Report No.18/2024 dated 28.08.2024, and have been issued by several customs formations across India.

To avoid fragmented decision-making and potential inconsistencies, CBIC has nominated the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner of Customs (Import), Air Cargo Complex, Sahar, Andheri (East), Mumbai – 400099 as the Common Adjudicating Authority for all these SCNs, consolidating proceedings that were previously before different adjudicating officers in Bengaluru, New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Nhava Sheva.

Statutory Provisions Invoked

The notification is anchored in specific provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. CBIC has acted under:

  • Section 3 – dealing with the appointment of officers of customs and conferral of powers;
  • Section 4(1) – which authorizes the Board to appoint officers to exercise specified powers and discharge specified duties; and
  • Section 5(1) and Section 5(1A) – empowering superior officers to exercise the powers and perform the duties of subordinate officers, and enabling reallocation of jurisdiction in appropriate cases.

By invoking these provisions, CBIC has effectively reassigned the adjudicatory functions initially vested in multiple adjudicating authorities to one senior officer, thereby centralizing the decision-making framework for this set of SCNs.

Note: The underlying substantive customs obligations and liabilities of the assessee are not altered by this notification; only the adjudication forum is changed.

Scope of the Consolidated Adjudication

Noticee Covered

The notification is specific to a single corporate entity:

  • **Name of assessee (noticee)😗* Hewlett-Packard Enterprise India Private Limited
  • IEC: 0715007190
  • Registered address as per notification:
    IWF Building Ground Floor, Sy. No. 192,
    Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Whitefield Road, Mahadevapura,
    Bengaluru, Bengaluru Urban, Karnataka – 560048

All the SCNs listed in the notification pertain to this same noticee and arise in the context of imports routed through various customs locations in India.

All SCNs emanate from:

  • SVB Investigation Report No.18/2024 dated 28.08.2024

SVB investigations typically focus on valuation of imports where there is a relationship between the importer and foreign supplier or other circumstances warranting scrutiny under customs valuation rules. The fact that multiple SCNs across different commissionerates trace back to this single SVB report indicates a common factual and legal matrix involving:

  • Alleged undervaluation or misdeclaration rooted in SVB findings,
  • Uniform issues in interpretation of valuation provisions and related party transactions, and
  • Consistent patterns of imports across different ports/air cargo complexes.

Centralized adjudication thus becomes critical to ensure coherent treatment of similar issues.

Original Adjudicating Authorities and Their Reallocation

CBIC's notification contains a tabular structure specifying, for each SCN:

  • The noticee (Hewlett-Packard Enterprise India Private Limited),
  • The SCN number and date,
  • The original adjudicating authority, and
  • The newly designated Common Adjudicating Authority.

Rephrased for clarity, the SCNs and their original forums are as follows:

  1. Bengaluru – Port Assessment Group (AP & ACC)
    • **SCN No.😗* 322/2024-25
    • Date: 01.01.2025
    • File reference: F. No. ACC/ASST/MISC/1072/2024-PAG [E 1571547]
    • Original adjudicating authority: Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Port Assessment Group (AP & ACC), Bengaluru