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The petitioners are merchants engaged in the business of trading in agricultural produce like areca nut falling under tariff entry 0802 80 90 of the Customs Tariff Act 1975. The first and second petitioners are partnership firms, whereas the 3rd petitioner is a proprietary concern. The petitioners claim to have been importing areca nuts from different countries for more than a decade and have proven credentials and unblemished track records. All the petitioners have obtained necessary licenses and have Importers and Exporters Code [IEC].

3. With regard to the factual position, it is to be noted that areca nuts are normally leviable to duty @ 108%. But by virtue of the notification No. 26/2000 dated 01.03.2000, only 4% duty is leviable; if the areca nut is of 'Sri Lankan origin' and if the same is supported/substantiated on the basis of certificate of origin issued by the India-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA Agreement)

4. The petitioners herein purchased areca nuts of Sri Lankan origin from different traders in Sri Lanka as per Exts. P1 to P3 invoices issued in the last week of January 2015. Exts. P4 to P6 are the packing lists issued by the said dealers in Sri Lanka and Exts. P7 to P9 are the bills of lading. True copies of the certificates of origin have been produced by the petitioners as Exts. P10 to P12, besides a certificate issued by the Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka, in the case of the first petitioner, as Ext. P10A. Pursuant to submission of Exts. P13 to P15 bills of entries by the  petitioners, the position was verified by the competent authority of the Customs, who issued Exts. P16 to P18 Examination Orders dated 12.02.2015. The quality of the goods stands covered by Exts. P19 and P20 phytosanitary certificates issued by the Department of Agriculture, Sri Lanka in the case of the first and second petitioners. Copies of the import lease orders issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India to the petitioners also have been produced as Exts. P21 to P23.

"Areca nut producing countries : Areca nut has been cultivated as a cash crop in the Asian continent for quite a long time now. Even today, the regions that produce maximum quantity of nut are the same areas where the areca nut came into existence i.e. the Southeast Asia, The world production of areca nut sums up to around 0.64 million tons, Asian contribution being the maximum. India is the leading country in context of production contributing to around 51 % of world's total production followed by China with 25 % share. The list depicts the major producers of the nut with their respective production figures for the year 2003.

9. The aforesaid data (that too, of the year 2003) however cannot lead to an inference that Sri Lanka is not an areca nut producing country. The particulars furnished by the learned standing counsel only reflect the position with reference to the major areca nut producers of world, where India is standing in the forefront among the seven named countries. No material is produced before this Court to hold that Sri Lanka does not produce  any areca nut and hence that it cannot be termed as a place of origin, in so far as the import is concerned.