Restricted import goods and provisional release can coexist pending adjudication when no specific statutory basis for re-export is pleaded.

Imported used rubber tyres were treated as restricted goods rather than prohibited goods, so provisional release pending adjudication was permissible on appropriate conditions. The court noted that the Revenue had not specifically invoked the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, and no proceedings had been initiated under those Rules for immediate re-export. It applied the distinction between prohibited and restricted imports, holding that conditional provisional release could protect both sides without prejudging the merits. The challenge to the single judge's direction therefore failed, and the release order remained undisturbed pending adjudication.

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Issues: Whether the imported used rubber tyres were liable to provisional release pending adjudication, notwithstanding the Revenue's objection based on import restriction and the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016.

Analysis: The imported goods were disputed on the footing that they were not "used rubber tyres with one cut in the bead wire" but otherwise restricted goods. The Court noted that the counter affidavits did not specifically invoke the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, and that no proceedings had been initiated under those Rules for directing re-export. It also relied on the principle that a distinction exists between prohibited and restricted goods, and that restricted goods may be dealt with by provisional release and later adjudication. The Court further recorded that provisional release had already been ordered on conditions, which protected the interests of both sides without foreclosing the merits of the adjudication.

Conclusion: Provisional release of the goods was held to be permissible, and the Revenue's challenge to the single judge's direction failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeals did not succeed, and the order directing provisional release was left undisturbed, subject to the outcome of the pending adjudication.

Ratio Decidendi: Restricted import goods, unlike prohibited goods, may be provisionally released on appropriate conditions pending adjudication, and a court will not deny such release in the absence of a specific and pleaded statutory basis for immediate re-export or absolute detention.

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