End-use certificate requirement held inapplicable on the facts; refund matter remanded for fresh adjudication.

Where a notification's certificate requirement was found inapplicable to imports under automatic and supplementary licences, and the end-use certificate was later produced along with supporting documents showing use in manufacture, the matter warranted fresh examination. The original authority was directed to reconsider the refund claim de novo after granting a reasonable opportunity of hearing, and the impugned order was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the refund claim ought to be reconsidered on remand in view of the later production of the end-use certificate and the inapplicability of the notification's essential certificate requirement to imports under automatic licence and supplementary licence.

Analysis: The imported goods were stated to have been supported by the necessary documents showing their use in manufacture of the final product. The appellants also produced the end-use certificate subsequently, and the relevant notification was treated as inapplicable where the goods were imported against an automatic licence and supplementary licence. In these circumstances, the case was considered fit for fresh examination by the original authority after giving a reasonable opportunity of hearing.

Conclusion: The matter was rightly remanded for de novo consideration and the impugned order was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the relevant certificate requirement under a notification is inapplicable on the facts and the necessary supporting evidence is subsequently produced, the matter may be remanded for fresh adjudication after affording a reasonable opportunity of hearing.

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