End-use certificate not required by exemption notification: interim waiver of pre-deposit and stay granted on prima facie eligible use.

Exemption for di-ammonium phosphate was treated as prima facie available where the notification granted total exemption for use as manure or for production of complex fertilisers and did not require an end-use certificate from a specified authority. The applicants had declared the intended use on the bills of entry and produced supporting certificates, and no material showed misuse of the goods. On that basis, the tribunal found a strong prima facie case for exemption and held that non-production of an end-use certificate could not by itself justify denial of interim relief. Waiver of pre-deposit was granted and recovery of the customs duty was stayed pending appeal.

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Issues: Whether the applicants were entitled to waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery pending appeal in respect of customs duty demanded on import of di-ammonium phosphate, where the exemption notification did not expressly require an end-use certificate.

Analysis: The exemption notification granted total exemption to di-ammonium phosphate for use as manure or for production of complex fertilisers and did not prescribe production of an end-use certificate from any particular authority. The applicants had declared on the bills of entry that the goods would be used for the notified purpose and had produced supporting certificates. In the absence of a specific condition in the notification requiring a particular form of end-use , and with no material showing misuse of the goods, a strong prima facie case for exemption was made out. The ruling that exemption could not be denied merely for non-production of an end-use certificate where the notification itself imposed no such requirement supported this view.

Conclusion: Waiver of pre-deposit was granted and recovery of the duty was stayed pending disposal of the appeal.

Ratio Decidendi: An exemption benefit cannot be denied at the interim stage merely for non-production of an end-use certificate when the exemption notification does not itself require such a certificate and the record discloses a prima facie case of eligible use.

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