Project import benefit for integrated turbo generator upheld where in-plant waste-heat recovery system was not a captive power plant.

An in-plant turbo generator integrated with an ammonia plant's process for recovering and utilising waste heat energy was treated as a utility system within the project, not as an independent captive power plant. On that basis, the lower appellate finding that the equipment could not be equated with a captive power plant remained unshaken, and the project import benefit under Customs Tariff Heading 98.01 was upheld. The concessional assessment was sustained and the Revenue's challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the imported turbo generator was entitled to project import benefit under Customs Tariff Heading 98.01, or was to be treated as a captive power plant outside the project import scheme.

Analysis: The disputed equipment was examined in the context of the ammonia plant's technology and the use of waste heat energy within the plant. The material on record indicated that the generator was not an independent captive power plant, but an in situ utility system integrated with the plant's process for recovering and utilising waste energy. The finding of the lower appellate authority that the generator could not be equated with a captive power plant remained unshaken, and the Revenue failed to dislodge that conclusion.

Conclusion: The turbo generator was eligible for project import benefit under Customs Tariff Heading 98.01 and the appeal by the Revenue failed.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order granting concessional assessment was sustained, and the Revenue's challenge was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: An in-plant utility power generation system that is integral to the manufacturing process and recovers waste heat energy is not to be treated as a captive power plant for denying project import benefit.

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