Specified certification governs research-import exemption and cannot be displaced by a contrary departmental opinion.

An exemption under Notification No. 51/96-Cus. depended on certification by the authority named in the notification that the import was essential for the research programme, that the importer was not engaged in commercial activity, and that the goods were required only for research purposes. Where that specified authority issued the requisite certificate, its legal effect prevailed. A contrary opinion from the Chief Chemist could not override the certificate because the notification itself attached ative significance to the designated certifying authority.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of Notification No. 51/96-Cus. dated 23-07-1996 was available to the imported goods where the authority specified in the notification had certified that the import was required for research purposes, notwithstanding a contrary opinion of the Chief Chemist.

Analysis: The notification made the grant of exemption conditional upon certification by an officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research that the import was essential for the research programme, that the importer was not engaged in commercial activity, and that the goods were scientific equipment or apparatus required only for research purposes. That prescribed authority had issued the requisite certificate in the present case. Since the notification itself identified the certifying authority and attached legal significance to its certificate, the contrary opinion obtained by the Revenue from the Chief Chemist could not displace it.

Conclusion: The certificate issued by the authority named in the notification prevailed, and the exemption benefit was rightly available to the imported goods.

Final Conclusion: The duty demand was not sustainable, and the Revenue's appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification makes eligibility dependent on certification by a specified authority, the certificate of that authority governs and cannot be overridden by a contrary departmental opinion unless the notification itself so provides.

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