Provisional assessment and freight-inclusive duty relief required where freight and insurance charges could not be estimated at filing.

Where freight and insurance charges could not be estimated with certainty when the price list for asbestos cement pipes was filed, a reservation to claim refund after duty payment on those elements could not be rejected as unjustified. If that reservation could not be incorporated in the price list, the proper legal course was provisional assessment so that appropriate relief could be granted. The impugned orders were therefore modified, and all assessments relating to clearances made under the price list were directed to be treated as provisional in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether the assessee's price list for asbestos cement pipes could be approved without allowing the reservation regarding freight and insurance charges, and whether the clearances made pursuant to that price list had to be treated as provisional.

Analysis: The assessee stated that, on the date of filing the price list, freight and insurance charges could not be estimated with certainty and therefore sought to reserve the right to claim refund after paying duty on those elements. The refusal to accept that reservation was held to be unjustified. If the reservation could not be accepted in the price list itself, the proper course was to direct provisional assessment so that appropriate legal relief could be given.

Conclusion: The impugned orders were modified and all assessments relating to the clearances made under the price list were directed to be treated as provisional, in favour of the assessee.

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