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1971 (11) TMI 56 - SUPREME COURTWhether on the material before the adjudicating officer any reasonable person could have come to the conclusion that the dal in question was of Indian origin? Assuming that the dal was of Indian origin, did the appellant contravene the terms of the treaty between India and Nepal? Held that:- In order to establish that the dal in question was of Indian origin, the customs authorities examined three witnesses. All of them frankly conceded that it was not possible for them to say definitely that the dal in question was of Indian origin. Hence the fact that the exportable surplus of Nepal was only 500 M.T. is not a positive proof to show that if more than 500 M.T. dal was exported from Nepal, the part of the exported dal must be of Indian origin. The dal imported from India might have been consumed and Nepalese dal might have been ex-ported. That apart, there is no material on the basis of which one could reasonably come to the conclusion that 250 M.T. dal which the appellant was seeking to export to Cairo was not Nepalese dal. In our opinion, there was absolutely no basis for the conclusion of the adjudicating officer that the dal in question was of Indian origin. The customs authorities have not placed any material before the court to show that the governments concerned have taken any measure for the purposes mentioned above. Hence there is no basis for coming to the conclusion that any of the terms of the treaty or even the assurances given by means of letters exchanged between them had been contravened. It is clear that the order of the adjudicating officer was without the authority of law and was wholly invalid. We accordingly allow this appeal.
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