Provisional release of imported goods: onerous conditions modified to allow bonds, duty payments and seven-day release upon compliance

Modification of onerous provisional release conditions for imported goods: petitioner required to remit declared duty, pay 50% of departmental differential duty, and execute bonds of Rs. 71,00,000 and Rs. 29,00,000 instead of bank guarantees; on compliance respondents must release goods within seven days. The decision relies on equal treatment and an earlier identical precedent to justify substituting bonds for bank guarantees and directing cooperation with investigative authorities as part of conditional provisional release.

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Issues: Whether the impugned provisional release order imposing alleged onerous conditions for release of imported goods (Viscose Knitted Fabric) should be modified and replaced with conditions of remittance of declared duty, payment of 50% of differential duty and specified bonds in lieu of bank guarantee as in an earlier identical order.

Analysis: The petition challenges the conditions imposed for provisional release as onerous. An earlier decision in a materially identical matter established modified conditions for provisional release consisting of remittance of the entire declared duty, payment of fifty percent of the departmental differential duty, and execution of specified bonds in place of a bank guarantee. That earlier order has attained finality. The petitioner has offered to comply with the same conditions. Having regard to parity of treatment with the earlier final order in an identical case, and the petitioner's undertaking to comply, the provisional release conditions in the impugned order were modified to align with the earlier settled terms; the petitioner must also cooperate with the ongoing DRI/Customs investigation and the investigating agency is directed to conclude the investigation expeditiously.

Conclusion: The impugned provisional release order dated 16.07.2025 is modified and set aside insofar as the conditions for release; the petitioner is directed to remit the entire declared duty, pay fifty percent of the differential duty, execute a bond for Rs. 71,00,000 and a bond for Rs. 29,00,000 in lieu of a bank guarantee, and on compliance the goods shall be provisionally released within seven days. No costs.

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