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1984 (7) TMI 382

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..... s have sold the goods on High Seas basis to M/s. Kiran Products of Pune, who according to the appellants were engaged in assembling, testing and supplying such pumps. When the appellants sought clearance of the imported goods against the above referred two additional licences, the Customs objected for clearance on the ground that the goods imported are complete equipment s and they are not raw materials, components, consumables, tools or spares and not covered by the licences. 3. During the adjudication proceedings, M/s. Kiran Products who have purchased the goods on High Seas Sale basis contended that the goods under import were covered by Sr. No. 433 in Appendix 5 of AM 83-84 Policy and Sr. No. 504 of AM 82-83 Policy and the licences covered the imported goods. They also urged before the learned Collector who held the enquiry that they were supplying the identical goods to various industries, such as NOCIL, CAFI, ROUSSEL, INDIAN ORGANIC CHEMICALS, etc. They further contended before the learned Collector that as per the literature produced by them from the manufacturer that the pumps in question have not been described as centrifugal pumps, and that imported pumps have to be us .....

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..... d therefore, the learned Collector was unjustified in holding that the additional licences produced did not cover the imported goods, and lastly. (5) The redemption fine imposed by the learned Collector was highly excessive. 5. After hearing the arguments of Shri Krishnamurthy at great length, we did not call upon Shri Jain to address arguments on the merits of the case as we were satisfied that this appeal has to fail. But however, we called upon Shri Jain as to whether the Customs did allow import of similar goods against similar licences. Shri Jain submitted that the appellants except filing a photostat copy of a Bill of Entry have not produced any document covering the import and in the said circumstances it would not be possible for him to make any submissions as to whether the goods imported under the Bill of Entry now produced are identical goods or that they are cleared against identical licences. Shri Jain also submitted that the fine imposed is not excessive and that the Collector had taken into consideration the margin of profit and at the relevant time the margin of profit was 100%. 6. We have given our anxious consideration to the submissions made by Shri Kris .....

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..... onent means one of the parts or sub-assemblies or assemblies, of which a manufactured product is made up and into which it may be resolved and includes an accessory (or attachment) Shri Krishnamurthy was not able to enlighten us as to the manufactured product of which the imported goods are components. We cannot accept his contention that the imported goods are components. Even assuming that the imported goods are components of a manufactured product since M/s. Kiran Products are not manufacturing the product of which the imported goods are components, they cannot be considered as Actual Users . The expression Actual User is however defined in paragraph 5 of Chapter 2 of the Policy AM 82-83. Actual User means a person who applies for/secures a licence for the import of any item or an allotment of an imported item required for his own use, and not for business or trade in it. Thus, in the case of an industrial undertaking, the item concerned shall be utilised for the manufacturing processes or operations conducted within its authorised premises (or made available to jobbing units or other units outside for intermediate processing only as part of such production effort). .....

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..... nce or of any such person empowered in this behalf by such authority. (ii) that the goods for the import of which a licence is granted shall be the property of the licence at the time of import and thereafter upto the time of clearance through Customs. Provided that the conditions under items (i) and (ii).. . (the rest of the definition is not relevant for our purpose). Provided further that the conditions under items (i) and (ii) of this sub-clause shall also not apply in relation to licences issued to eligible export houses for import of goods meant for disposal to actual users under the import policy for registered exporters. The above provisions require that the eligible Export Houses are required to dispose of the imported goods to the actual users . Since M/s. Kiran Products are not the Actual Users within the meaning of that expression as given in (he Policy, the learned Collector was justified in holding that the import violated the condition of the licence, and therefore, the goods became liable for confiscation. 11. It was next contended by Shri Krishnamurthy that utilisation of the imported goods by the Actual Users is a post import condition and the Cu .....

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..... d goods. In the circumstances the Customs have jurisdiction and power to call the importers to satisfy them that the import was meant for disposal to Actual Users . 13. From the agreement entered into between the appellants and M/s. Kiran Products one could safely come to a conclusion that there had been a transfer of licences itself. In the guise of High Seas sale basis the appellants virtually transferred their licence to a concern who are not the Actual Users of the imported. goods. However, it is not necessary to go into that question in this appeal. 14. The two other aspects that remained for consideration are : (1) that there had been discrimination in the matter of clearance of import and (2) that the fine imposed is harsh and excessive. So far as the first aspect is concerned except filing a Bill of Entry the appellants have not chosen to produce any other document in support of their contention. In the absence of the relevant documents we cannot accept the contention of the appellants that the Customs had allowed clearance of similar goods against similar licences. In any case, if by inadvertence or mistake an illegal import had been permitted, that cannot be made a .....

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