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2015 (4) TMI 562 - SC - CustomsDenial of exemption claim - import of hot mix plant or only parts notification dated 1.3.2001 - exemption from payment of customs duty and additional duty leviable under the Customs Tariff Act - imports to be made by a Joint Venture Company and not by one of the partners of the said company - Held that:- both authorities have relied upon statements made by none other than the Vice President of the Appellant who after retracting a statement made on 3.1.2002 has made a subsequent statement on 21.2.2002 admitting that the imported goods were only components and had not attained the essential characteristics of a plant. The subsequent statement has not been retracted - statements made to an Officer of Customs are admissible in evidence under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 - unretracted statements made by none other than the Vice President of the appellant company, representatives of Marshalls, and a representative of National Highways Authority of India, having never been retracted later, were made voluntarily. Reliance on the said statements, therefore, by the authorities below cannot be said to be unwarranted in law. It is clear that on a holistic reading of the letter what has been imported is "the basic character" of the hot mix plant and not a complete plant as it is clear that what is manufactured indigenously would alone ultimately complete the plant. - Equally the letter dated 20.1.2002 being a letter by the National Highways Authority of India does not take us much further. In fact, as has been pointed out above, Shri M.V.N. Rao of the said authority candidly admitted that a complete plant had not been imported and that the imported components did not have the essential characteristics of the hot mix plant in question. In the present case, both the oral evidence and the documentary evidence ultimately lead to the same conclusion: namely, that what was imported was not a hot mix plant that was complete in itself. - CESTAT has already given the appellant considerable relief. The redemption fine of ₹ 5,00,000/- imposed by the Commissioner was reduced to a fine of ₹ 1,00,000/- and a penalty of ₹ 1,00,000/- imposed by the appellant has also been set aside. In the circumstances, the appeal is dismissed with costs of ₹ 1,00,000 - Decided against assessee.
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