Import licence produced after adjudication requires reconsideration of confiscation, with the later licence taken into account.

A confiscation order based on the absence of an import licence could not stand where a valid licence covering the shipped goods was produced after adjudication. The later licence had to be examined because the matter could not be treated as finally concluded without considering its effect on the import. The confiscation order was therefore set aside and the case remanded for fresh adjudication with the licence taken into account, leaving the merits open.

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Issues: Whether the confiscation order could stand when a licence permitting import of the goods was produced after adjudication, and whether the matter required reconsideration in light of that licence.

Analysis: The imported goods had been ordered to be confiscated because the licence was not available before the adjudicating authority. The later-produced licence specifically covered the goods already shipped and arrived. In these circumstances, the adjudication could not be treated as finally concluded without examining the effect of the licence, and the subsequent document had to be considered by the authority.

Conclusion: The confiscation order was set aside and the matter was remanded for fresh consideration after taking the licence into account.

Final Conclusion: The appellant obtained a remand for reconsideration on the basis of the subsequently procured import licence, but the merits were left open for a fresh adjudication.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a valid import licence covering the goods is produced after the original adjudication, the matter must be reconsidered on the basis of that licence rather than being concluded solely on the absence of the licence at the earlier stage.

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