HOTLINE CPT LTD. Vs. CC

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE main contention raised by the appellant in this appeal against order dated 29.4.2002 passed by the Commissioner of Customs, New Delhi that imposition of duty on the 11 volumes of technical information is not correct as they are not goods is only to be rejected in the light of the decision of the Supreme Court in Associated Cement, 2001 (74) ECC 1 (SC) : 2001 (128) ELT 21.

(2.) APART from the question of limitation there are three other issues raised by the appellant, namely, (i) the rate of duty applicable (ii) whether the consideration for goods imported was US 1 million or 1.5 million, and (iii) whether the appellant is entitled to claim certain abatement on the basic amount of consideration.

(3.) ON the question of rate of duty the learned counsel for the appellant placed reliance on Circular No. 72/2001 -Cus. dated 29.11.2001 issued by Central Board of Excise and Customs. In the above circular the Board has directed that in finalizing the assessment relating to printed books/manuals the ratio of the decision of the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Customs v. Parasrampuria Synthetics Ltd., 2001 (77) ECC 449 (SC)) : 2001 (133) ELT 9 (SC) has to be followed. The printed books and manuals are to be assessted as plan, design and drawing leviable to a concessional duty @ 10% (basic) under Notification No. 25/95 -Cus. It is the case of the appellant that the above circular will be directly applicable to the import made by it and that the duty liability is only @ 10%.