Cashewnut seed not treated as exempt fresh fruit; import without way bill upheld as statutory contravention.

Cashewnut seed in imported form was not covered by the exempted entry for dry or preserved fruit because it was raw seed requiring roasting and cracking before the kernel could be obtained. It was also not "fresh fruit" in common parlance, as the goods were dry seeds rather than edible fruit in a natural fresh condition. The tribunal therefore treated the goods as falling within the general taxable category under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994, and held that import without a way bill amounted to statutory contravention. The seizure was upheld and the cashewnut seed was treated as taxable, not tax-free.

---

---

Issues: Whether cashewnut seed is tax-free goods as "fresh fruit" or as covered by any exempted entry under the West Bengal Sales Tax Act, 1994, and whether its import without a way bill rendered the seizure valid.

Analysis: Cashewnut seed was held not to fall within the exempted entry for dry or preserved fruit, since the seed in its imported form was not the edible cashewnut itself but the raw seed requiring roasting and cracking before the kernel could be obtained. It was also held not to be "fresh fruit" within the common parlance meaning of that expression, because the imported goods were dry seeds and not edible fruit in a natural fresh condition. As the goods were not specified in the exempt entries, they fell within the general category of taxable goods under the Act, and importation without a way bill constituted contravention of the statutory requirement.

Conclusion: Cashewnut seed was held taxable and not tax-free; the seizure for import without a way bill was valid.

---