Operational demonstration of imported goods counts as "use" and defeats entry tax refund eligibility.

Goods brought into the Calcutta Metropolitan Area for exhibition can be treated as "used" if they are started and their working is demonstrated to interested persons. For refund under Section 19 of the Taxes of Entry of Goods into Calcutta Metropolitan Area Act, 1972, the goods must be exported within six months without being consumed, used or sold in the area. A free demonstration, even if not for the machine's intended commercial purpose, was held to amount to actual use. Refund was therefore unavailable.

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Issues: Whether a machine brought into the Calcutta Metropolitan Area for exhibition and demonstrated there was "used" so as to disentitle the importer from refund of entry tax under Section 19 of the Taxes of Entry of Goods into Calcutta Metropolitan Area Act, 1972.

Analysis: Section 19 permits refund only where the goods, after payment of tax, are exported or conveyed out of the area within six months without being consumed, used or sold therein. The machine was not merely displayed; it was started up and its working was shown to interested persons. Such a demonstration amounted to actual use within the area. The fact that the use was not for the purpose for which the machine was manufactured, and that no charge was taken for the demonstration, did not alter its character as use for the purposes of the refund provision.

Conclusion: The machine had been used within the Calcutta Metropolitan Area, and refund under Section 19 was not available. The issue is decided in favour of Revenue and against the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purposes of refund under a provision like Section 19, a demonstrable operational use of the goods within the notified area is sufficient to disqualify the claimant, even if the use is by way of free demonstration and not for the goods' intended commercial purpose.

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