Duty concession for rejected goods depends on documentary correlation between invoices, defect records, and quality control certificates.

Duty concession under Notification No. 8/97-C.E. was available where goods cleared into the Domestic Tariff Area were shown to be rejected goods and the documentary record established the necessary linkage with the quality control certificate. The records produced in de novo proceedings, including the defect note, clearance chart, quality control certificate, and sample invoices, showed that the invoices referred to the quality control certificates and endorsed the goods as rejected goods cleared in the Domestic Tariff Area. On that basis, denial of the notification benefit was treated as unjustified.

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Issues: Whether the appellant was entitled to the duty concession under Notification No. 8/97-C.E. dated 01.03.1997 in respect of goods cleared as rejects into the Domestic Tariff Area, and whether the correlation between the invoices and the quality control certificate stood established.

Analysis: The dispute turned on whether the goods sold in the Domestic Tariff Area were genuinely rejected goods and whether the documentary record satisfied the notification conditions. The records produced during the de novo proceedings, including the note explaining the defects, the chart of clearances, the quality control certificate, and the sample invoices, showed that the invoices carried reference to the quality control certificates and contained endorsement that the goods were rejected goods cleared in the Domestic Tariff Area. On that basis, the required correlation between the rejected goods, the invoices, and the quality control certificate was found to be established.

Conclusion: Denial of the benefit of Notification No. 8/97-C.E. dated 01.03.1997 was held to be unjustified and the appeal was allowed in favour of the appellant.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the documentary record establishes that goods cleared into the Domestic Tariff Area were rejected goods and the invoices correlate with the quality control certificate, the exemption or duty concession cannot be denied for want of proper compliance.

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