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2013 (11) TMI 595 - AT - CustomsCustom duty on coking coal – Assessee imported coal and filed 19 Bills for clearing what was declared in some of the bills of entry as coking coal and in some others as semi-soft coking coal - Claimed exemption from customs duty under Notification No. 21/2002-Cus., dated 1-3-2002 – Serial.No.68 & 68A - “coking coal” was fully exempted from customs duty - Customs department demanded duty with view that the goods imported were not coking coal - Held that:- The description that the supplier adopts for his goods in contract by itself cannot be conclusive in deciding applicability of a customs exemption especially when the scope of the description of the goods used in Customs Notification in India is not clear and gives room for an argument that the goods fits into the description. In the absence of a clear definition, we should go by natural meaning. The explanations in the notification prior to the period of import and later to the period of import provide certain technical characteristics and do not provide for monitoring that coal is to be used actually for conversion into coke before using it in metal extraction. During the period of import there was no explanation at all - We feel that adoption of a new technology enabling use of coal, which could be converted into coke in admixture with other coal, without conversion of such coal into coke cannot be a reason to deny the exemption - The Chemical Examiner does not state the criteria based on which he opined that the goods were not “coking coal”. In the absence of such details the Chemical Examiner’s report is only an opinion and not a report of chemical analysis. An opinion formed by chemical examiner has very limited value because such opinion is formed without hearing the party - Following decision of COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, TRICHY Versus JSW STEEL LTD. [2013 (1) TMI 301 - CESTAT, CHENNAI] - Decided in favour of assessee.
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