Import policy negative list issue leads to refusal of interim stay where goods were found dutiable, not prohibited.

Interim stay of an appellate order was refused because the application was assessed only on a prima facie basis and the goods had already been found to fall outside the negative list under the relevant import policy. Relying on the earlier High Court view that staple pins were not prohibited during the import policy period but were merely dutiable, no apparent infirmity was shown in the lower appellate order to justify interim interference. The operation of the impugned order was therefore not stayed.

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Issues: Whether stay of operation of the impugned appellate order should be granted when the goods had been held to be outside the negative list under the relevant import policy.

Analysis: The application was considered only at a prima facie stage. Reliance was placed on the earlier High Court finding that staple pins did not figure in the negative list for the import policy period and that their import was not prohibited, but only subject to duty. In view of that finding, the lower appellate order was not shown to suffer from any apparent infirmity warranting interim interference.

Conclusion: Stay of the operation of the impugned order was rejected.

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