WWI CRANES LIMITED Vs. KRISHNA MURTHY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) HEARD Mr. Shroff for the Petitioner. Mr. Master appears for Respondent Nos. 1 and 2. Respondent No. 1 (A)-CEGAT is a format Respondent.

(2.) THE Petitioner is a limited company engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of cranes. A Government of India Enterprise known as Fact Engineering and Design Organization (for short "fedo") desired to have manufactured and erected a ship unloader which is a kind of power crane for unloading the raw materials from bulk carriers. The said system was to have a capacity of 600 Tonnes Per Hour (TPH ). It was imperative that along with the grab buckets, the system would include a track loader to act as a bulldozer to collect the materials concerned. The petitioner had filled in the necessary quotation as per the advertisement of FEDO on 18th February, 1982. The quotation given by the petitioner was accepted by FEDO. Accordingly, the petitioner applied for the import licence. The licence issued had a specific clause with respect to the pay loader. However, that clause was cancelled with a rubber stamp by the Joint Chief Controller of Imports and Exports (JCCI ). In view of this deficiency in the said import licence issued on 31st October, 1984, the Petitioner made further inquiry with respect to this deletion and was informed that the particular item was freely importable and could be imported under the Open General Licence (OGL ).

(3.) ACCORDINGLY, the Petitioner placed an order for this kind of loader. It filed a Bill of Entry and expected clearance but was issued a show cause notice on 11th June, 1985. The show cause notice contended that the pay loader was not a component of the system and was liable for penal action and confiscation under Section 111 of the Customs Act, 1962. The Petitioner filed its reply on 13th June, 1985. However, the said reply was not accepted and by the order dated 13th August, 1985, the 1st Respondent herein i. e. the then Additional Collector of Customs held that the track loader was not a component of the system. The same was directed to be confiscated with an option to the petitioner to get it released by paying redemption fine of Rs. 5 lakhs.