Customs, Excise and Gold Tribunal - Mumbai
Ispat Metallics (India) Ltd. vs Commissioner Of Customs on 13 February, 2004
ORDER S.S. Sekhon, Member (T)
1. The appellants had imported drawings and designs for setting up their blast furnace plant. The drawings and designs were ordered to be confiscated under Section 111 (d) of the Customs Act 1962 and were to be redeemed on payment of redemption fine of Rs. 10,50,000/-along with personal penalty of Rs. 1,00,000/- imposed under Section 111. Hence this appeal.
2. After hearing both sides arid considering the issue involved, it is found:
a) The drawings arid designs are printed. It is found that the claim under 49.06 of Customs Tariff for their classification cannot be upheld. After a perusal of the HSN notes and considering that the classification of technical/engineering drawings have been held to be classifiable under heading 4911.91 of the Customs Tariff Act vide the decision of this Tribunal in the case of Tractors and Farm Equipments {1993 (68) ELT 234 (Tribunal)} and no contrary decision having being shown by the Ld. C.A. appearing for the appellants, the classification under 4911.91 is confirmed. The claim of the appellants for classification under 4911.99 is not upheld.
b) We found force in the submission of the Ld. C.A. appearing for the appellants that drawings and designs for the blast furnace imported cannot be considered to be Consumer goods since they do not satisfy directly any basic human needs. They only satisfy the industrial need for setting up a plant for manufacture of steel, which the appellant importers are engaged in. On a reading of entries in columns 3 and 4 of the ITC HSN classification a reasonable construction is possible that only such goods falling under 49119100.90 are restricted and require a licence, which are in nature of consumer goods. Since the present goods do not fall under the definition of the consumer goods as defined in para 3.14 of the EXIM policy, as in this case, as they do not directly satisfy any human needs and are not consumer durables and accessories thereof. The import is to be allowed without the instances of ITC requirement of a licence for consumer goods as arrived at by the Ld. Adjudicator. Columns 3 and 4 of the ITC (HS) Classification of Import & Export Items spells out the exact scope of and explains the rationale behind the restrictions and conditions as imposed under Column 3. Reading of para 15.2 (Part II of Negative List of Imports in Chapter 15) of the EX1M policy of 1997-2002 which deals with restricted items and lays down the precise manner in which the import policy in respect of any goods is to be found. It clearly follows that only items which would be consumer goods falling under 4911.91 would be requiring a licence and on a reading of Columns 3, 4 and 5 of the ITC (HS) Classifications of Export and Import items it is found that there is no reason to order the confiscation of Industrial Drawings as in this case, on the grounds, that they are consumer goods, and thus they need a licence. Redemption fine and the constituent penalties are therefore required to be set aside.
3. In view of our findings, we allow this appeal in above terms.