SIND STEEL SIDE Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN all these 59 writ petitions, additional duty charged under section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 on various materials which are to be imported by the petitioners is sought to be avoided on various grounds.

(2.) IN writ petition No. 645/1984 in addition to the challenge to the levy of additional duty, section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 is challenged as being illegal, ultra vires and unconstitutional on the ground that it violates the provisions of Arts 14 and 265 of the Constitution of India, It is contended that excise duty cannot be loaded with any type of post manufacturing expenses much less with any customs duty which do not came into picture in levy of excise. By levying additional duty equivalent to excise duty, the object of the Act is achieved. Therefore, there is no reason to levy the additional duty which exceeds the excise duty leviable on the goods manufactured or produced in India. By levying the additional duty a discrimination is sought to be done between the importer of goods who imports goods on which ad -valorem duty is leviable and those who import other imported goods on which non -ad valorem duty is leviable. Petitioners submit that sections 3 (1) and 3 (2) put an unreasonable restrictions on the petitioners right to carry on the business under Art. 19 (1) (g) of the constitution and restrictions so imposed are violative of Articles 300 -A and 301 of the Constitution of India.

(3.) PETITIONERS challenge the levy of additional and auxiliary duty of custom in respect of any imported item and also challenge levy of custom duty on landing charges and packing materials. The levy of additional duty as also on landing charges and packing material is challenged in all the writ petitions. Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act, relevant for the purposes of present controversy, lays down as under : Levy of Additional duty equal to excise duty : -(i) Any article which is imported into India shall, in addition, be liable to a duty (hereafter in this section referred to as the additional duty) equal to the excise duty for the time being leviable on a like article if produced or manufactured in India and if such excise duty on a like article is leviable at any percentage of its value, the additional duty to which the imported article shall be so liable shall be calculated at that percentage of the value of the imported article. Explanation : In this section, the expression, "excise duty for the time being leviable on a like article if produced or manufactured in India" means the excise duty for the time being in force which would be leviable on a like article if produced or manufactured in India or, if a like article is not so produced or manufactured which would be leviable on the class or description of articles to which the imported articles belongs and where such duty is leviable at different rates, the highest duty. (2) For the purpose of calculating under this section the additional duty on any imported article, where such duty is leviable at any percentage of its value, the value of the imported article shall, notwithstanding any thing contained in section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962, be the aggregate of - i) the value of the imported article determined under sub -section (I) of the said section 14 of the tariff value of such article fixed under sub -section (2) of that section, as the case may be : and ii) any duty of customs chargeable on that article under section 12 of the Customs Act, 1962, and any such chargeable on that article under any law for the time being in force as an addition to, and in the same manner as duty of customs, but not including the duty referred to in sub -section (1)