Concessional customs duty on gold findings cannot be denied for post-clearance sale when the notification imposes no actual user condition.

Concessional customs duty under Notification No. 12/2012-Cus could not be denied for imported gold findings merely because the goods were sold after clearance. The notification, as applied to goods assessed as gold findings, did not impose any express actual user or post-import usage condition. An assessing authority could not read in a further restriction based on presumed misuse, the quantity imported, or later disposal of the goods. The definition of gold findings in the notification could not be used to create a condition absent from the text. The exemption denial was therefore unsustainable, and the concessional benefit remained available.

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Issues: Whether concessional customs duty under Notification No. 12/2012-Cus dated 17.3.2012 could be denied on the ground that the imported gold findings were sold after clearance and not used in the manner assumed by the Department, despite the notification prescribing no actual user condition.

Analysis: The imported goods were accepted as gold findings and were assessed as such. The notification granted the concessional rate without prescribing any post-import or actual user requirement. In the absence of an express condition in the exemption notification, the assessing authority could not add a further restriction based on presumed misuse, the quantity imported, or the subsequent disposal of the goods. The definition of gold findings in the notification could not be used to create a condition that the text of the notification did not contain.

Conclusion: The denial of exemption was unsustainable. The concessional duty benefit could not be withdrawn for want of an actual user condition or for subsequent sale of the goods.

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