TMI Blog2018 (12) TMI 1304X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r class in the dichotomous distribution of producing plants specifically for coverage in this chapter. The misconception that ‘green pepper’ is a spice and that, until it is processed, is not a vegetable that appears to have been the basis for initiating proceedings against the appellant should no longer stand in the way of endorsing the declaration of the appellant in the bills of entry. The impugned orders lack the mantle of logic and the sanctity of law - appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant. - C/20785, 20788 - 20794, 20797 – 20800, 20803, 21190/2018 - Final Order No: 21830-21843/2018 - Dated:- 30-11-2018 - Mr S S Garg, Judicial Member And Mr CJ Mathew, Technical Member Mr. Balagopal M, Advocate for appellant Mr. Gopa Kumar (AR) for Respondent ORDER Per: C J Mathew It was on the back of the shrivelled produce of this slender vine of the genus Piper, endemic to the highlands of the Malabar coast, that a worldwide empire was founded and ruled in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by a small kingdom of the Iberian peninsula. The voyage of that intrepid Portuguese navigator, Vasco da Gama, in search of the fabled sea route to the Indi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as they are, will not, according to Learned Authorized Representative, immunize the appellant from the penal consequences of failure to fulfill the obligation to make correct declaration or enable the customs authorities to abdicate their responsibility for determination of the appropriate classification. It is against this backdrop that the arguments were presented by both sides. 3. Learned Counsel for appellant submits that green pepper , in bunch, are imported from Sri Lanka in the form in which they were plucked from the vine to be subject to processing, either by brining or by dehydration, before export owing to general preference among Indian cultivators of this cash crop for the higher prices obtainable from sale of peppercorn in the domestic market. Drawing attention to the insertion of a specific entry for green pepper in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, unique to India, in addition to the entry for the processed product in the parent Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System, and, inevitably, precluding classification in the latter by the mandate of most specific description in rule 3 of the General Rules for the Interpretation of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uded as per the notes to chapter 7. In the context of specific description and specific coverage in chapter 9 of First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 consequent on absence from the inclusions in note 2 of chapter 7, the classification claimed by the appellant would not be appropriate. He further contends that the definition of spices as a group of vegetable, rich in essential oils and aromatic principles, and which on account of their characteristic taste, are used as condiments , substantially describes the impugned imports and the presence of essential oils and aromatic principles in the green form is unquestioned with the dried form merely concentrating them. 5. Having heard the rival submissions, we are yet to appreciate the rationale for initiation of proceedings in the context of the entire import consignments having been subjected to processing for export. Under these circumstances, any alteration in duty arising from re-classification can only be academic and even if the advance authorization were not to be valid, the export consignments would be entitled to neutralization of all the duties that have gone into its production. Nevertheless, this aspect not ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r any other plant produce. This trajectory of reasoning appears to flow from the understanding of the customs authorities that pepper of the Indies variety is spice distinguishable from the other peppers that are vegetables. It is abundantly clear from rule 1 of The General Rules for the Interpretation of Import Tariff that titles of chapters does not determine classification which necessarily commences with headings. Therefore, the notion that all products of the pepper vine should necessarily be placed in the chapter pertaining to spice is fallacious. Spice is a traded commodity, and has been for centuries, with the implication that it must necessarily be in a desiccated form for it to last and to preserve the characteristic that is so tempting to the human race. Spice is, therefore, not the produce of a plant but the product of processing of such produce. Here too, we may draw upon the wisdom of the decision of the Exchequer Court supra that influenced the Hon ble Supreme Court articulated thus 32. Now the statute affects nearly everyone, the producer or manufacturer, importer, wholesaler and retailer, and finally the consumer who, in the last analysis, p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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