DGFT relaxation letters required fresh adjudication of import licensing breach, confiscation, penalty and redemption fine.

Subsequent DGFT relaxation letters affecting the import licensing conditions for Chapter 87 required fresh examination of whether the imported goods were actually brought in breach of those conditions. Because the letters were not before the original adjudicating authority, the confiscation and penalty findings could not be sustained without reconsideration of the new material. The question of redemption fine also had to be re-examined in the same proceeding. The impugned order was therefore set aside and the matter remanded for de novo adjudication after considering the DGFT letters and granting the importer a reasonable opportunity of hearing.

---

---

Issues: Whether the impugned order confiscating the imported goods and imposing penalty should be set aside and the matter remanded for fresh adjudication after considering the subsequent letters issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade.

Analysis: The importer produced letters from the Director General of Foreign Trade granting relaxation of the conditions under the Import Licensing Note for Chapter 87. Those letters were not before the adjudicating authority when the original order was passed. In view of this subsequent material, the correctness of the finding that the goods were imported in violation of the import licensing conditions required fresh examination. The Revenue's grievance regarding absence of redemption fine also fell for reconsideration in the same fresh adjudication.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded to the adjudicating authority to decide the issue afresh after considering the Director General of Foreign Trade letters and after granting a reasonable opportunity of hearing to the importer.

---