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1987 (2) TMI 62 - SC - CustomsWhether the vessels are goods brought into India for home consumption? Whether a transhipper is an ocean-going vessel? Held that:- It may be that in Section 46(2) and elsewhere the word `goods' is used in such a way as not to include and as contradistinguished from the conveyances in which the goods are carried, depending upon the context. But that does not mean that despite the definition, the word is never to be understood as defined and that it should always be interpreted as never to include vessels, aircraft and vehicles even when there is nothing in the context justifying their exclusion. We can see no justification for holding that a vessel is not `goods' for the purposes of Section 46(1). For the purpose of the levy of Customs Duty, in order to determine whether any imported goods are `goods for home consumption', we have to find out the primary intended use of the goods when the goods are brought into Indian territorial waters. If the goods are intended to be primarily used in India, they are goods for home consumption notwithstanding that they may also be used for the same or other purposes outside India. We guard ourselves against saying that the converse may be true. The question whether goods not intended to be primarily used in India but used occasionally for short periods in India also fall within the meaning of the expression `goods for home consumption' has not been examined by us. We have only considered the question whether goods brought into India for use primarily in India are goods for home consumption notwithstanding that they are occasionally or incidentally used outside India. We are of the view that they are. The vessels, in these two cases, were brought into India to be used primarily as Transhippers at Mormugao, though used incidentally or occasionally to go into the open sea. They are, therefore, `goods for home consumption' and not ocean-going vessels for the purposes of the Customs Act. After their conversion they were no longer ocean-going vessels, in the full sense of the term that is in the sense that their pre-dominant purpose was use as ships traversing the open seas. It was, therefore, necessary to present Bill of Entry in respect of both the vessels. Appeal dismissed.
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