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2022 (7) TMI 471 - SC - CustomsClassification of imported goods - dried pomegranate seeds/anardana - to be be classified under Heading 0813 of the Tariff entries issued under the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 or under Heading 1209 as claimed by the importers? - HELD THAT:- Chapter Note 3 of Chapter 12 states that for the purpose of Heading 12.09, the seeds specified therein, which include seeds of fruit trees, are to be regarded as ‘seeds of a kind use of sowing’. Chapter Note 3, therefore, creates a fiction when it stipulates that for the purpose of Heading 12.09, seeds of fruit trees would be considered ‘seeds of a kind used for sowing’. The Note, however, expressly excludes the goods specified in clauses (a) to (d), even when they are for the purpose of sowing. Clause (b) excludes spices and other products of Chapter 9 from the purview of Heading 12.09. Further, the Explanatory Notes to sub-heading 1209.99, also explicitly exclude fruits of Chapter 8, which Chapter subject to the exclusions and the principles of interpretation that apply to resolve conflict of classification of entries, applies to ‘edible fruits’ and not ‘inedible fruits’. The word ‘seed’ in common parlance and in commercial sense means the grains or ripened ovules of plants used for sowing. The normal function of a seed is to germinate and produce a new plant. Broadly, a seed includes a propagative structure such as a spore, or a small dry fruit. Some fruit and vegetable seeds are edible and are used by human beings as food or even as condiments. However, as explained above, as per the Chapter Note 3 “seeds of forest trees, seeds of fruit trees are to be regarded as seeds of a kind used for sowing”. In the context of the present case, once the finding of fact recorded by the CESTAT is accepted that ‘anardana’ is a dried product of local ‘daru’ or wild pomegranate, which grows in mid hill conditions and which fruit in its fresh form is different from the pomegranate included in clause 7 to Heading 08.10, as this wild pomegranate is not consumed as a fresh fruit, the contention of the Revenue must fail. GRI 3, which in the absence of the Heading, Section or Chapter Notes, prescribes the order of priority as - (a) specific description, (b) essential character, and (c) the Heading that occurs last in numerical order, and even GRI 4 – the heading appropriate for the goods “to which they are most akin”, supports our conclusion and finding - sub-heading 1209.99.00 in the Import Policy correlates to sub-heading 1209.99 to Chapter 12 of the HSN. The contention of the Revenue that the Import Policy is in the nature of delegated legislation albeit correct, would not make any difference in the context of the present case as the policy condition in the Export/Import Policy specifically includes pomegranate seeds – as ‘anardana’ under sub-heading 1209.99.00, whereas the Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 merely reproduces the Heading and the sub-heading of the HSN, without specifically including or excluding pomegranate seeds under the sub-heading 1209.99. As a postscript, it is also worth mentioning that pomegranate seeds are one of the items notified and recognised as a ‘spice’ under the schedule of the Spices Board Act, 1986. Section 2(n) of this Act states that a ‘spice’ means any of the items specified in the schedule. Furthermore, the data available on the export of ‘anardana’ from India paints a very different picture and contradicts the contention of the Revenue. Petition dismissed.
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