CHHAGANLAL AND SONS Vs. COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal to this Tribunal and is directed against the order dated 30 -11 -1982 of the Collector of Customs (Appeals), Bombay upholding the order (Original) dated 17 -2 -1982 passed by the Deputy Collector of Customs, Bombay confiscating 13 post parcels of surgical threads imported by the appellants for having contravened Section 11 l(d) of the Customs Act, 1962.

(2.) THE facts giving rise to the dispute, in brief, are that the appellants produced for Customs clearance of the aforesaid goods an import licence No. 2897702 dated 12 -2 -1980. The said licence which was a R.E.P. licence for the export of leather goods bore an endorsement in the following terms : -

(3.) IN the appeal before us -and, in the hearing on 22 -9 -1983 before us when, Shri Balani, Advocate represented the appellants -it has been urged that the imported non -sterilised linen surgical thread was raw material for manufacture of sterilised surgical sutures and as such was covered by the licence. Reference has been drawn to the CCCN (Customs Co -operation Council Nomenclature) Explanatory Notes under heading 30.50 -Volume 1, page 460 -whereby sterilised sutures fall under the said heading as pharmaceutical goods whereas non -sterile textile yarns fall in Section XI ("Textiles and Textile Articles"). The process of sterilisation is not a simple one and amounts to a process of manufacture. Encyclopaedia Brittanica was referred to in this context. The appellants also submitted that the benefit of release similar goods in the past should be extended to them. Shri Balani also referred to Appendix 7 of the 1982 -83 Policy to show that even goods like wheels and tyres are regarded as raw materials by the LT.C. authorities.