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2004 (1) TMI 78 - SC - CustomsWhether licence is erroneous? Held that:- The crucial question to which the Tribunal should have addressed itself is whether the raw material imported duty free was utilized in the manufacture of exported products. In this regard, the definite case of the assessee, as put forward in the reply to the show cause notice and the documents placed before it or the adjudicating authority should have been examined. Instead of that, the Tribunal made a bald observation that the appellant could not specifically account for utilization of the balance quantity of 36,104 kgs. Neither the case of the assessee, nor the supporting material produced by it was referred to by the Tribunal before reaching this conclusion. True, the adjudicating authority did not accept the appellant's contention in this regard. But, even the adjudicating authority had not gone into all the relevant aspects. The case was rejected merely on the basis of endorsements in the passbook and the alleged discrepancy of 500 kgs. in Sl. No. 3 of the statement. That the balance sheet did not contain details of utilization is another point noted. It has been commented by the learned Counsel for the appellant that the discrepancy was explained before the Tribunal and it was further contended that the balance sheet need not reflect necessarily the details regarding utilization of raw material and the purpose of furnishing the balance sheet was only to show that there were no domestic sales. We need not dilate on these aspects. We consider it a fit case to remand the matter to the Tribunal for examining the issue whether there is satisfactory proof of utilization of the entire raw material for the purpose of exporting the resultant products. The Tribunal may, in addition to the material already filed, take into account any other material furnished by the parties. In the light of the conclusion arrived at by the Tribunal on this crucial aspect, the appeal shall be disposed of by the Tribunal. It is desirable that the appeal is decided expeditiously as the litigation has been lingering for well over ten years. The appeal is allowed.
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