Generic use of "gold" in import licences and exemptions extends to old gold jewellery unless expressly restricted.

A special import licence for gold was treated as covering old gold jewellery because the restriction against used goods did not apply merely from the description "old," and the jewellery was not shown to be used. The Revenue's tariff-based distinction did not control the scope of the licence. Notification No. 117/94-Cus. was also held to extend to gold in all forms, including jewellery, because it used the generic term "gold" without limiting the benefit to unwrought or semi-manufactured forms. The import licence benefit and exemption were therefore available to the importer.

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Issues: (i) Whether old gold jewellery was covered by the special import licence issued for gold. (ii) Whether Notification No. 117/94-Cus. granting exemption to gold was applicable to old gold jewellery.

Issue (i): Whether old gold jewellery was covered by the special import licence issued for gold.

Analysis: The licence restriction was directed against used goods, not merely goods described as old. The imported jewellery was not shown to be used. The expression "gold" in the special import licence was treated as a generic term, and the distinction drawn by the Revenue based on tariff headings did not control the scope of the licence description.

Conclusion: The special import licences were valid for import of the old gold jewellery, in favour of the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether Notification No. 117/94-Cus. granting exemption to gold was applicable to old gold jewellery.

Analysis: The notification used the generic description "gold" without limiting it to any particular form. Since the notification did not confine the benefit to unwrought or semi-manufactured gold, its scope extended to gold in all forms, including jewellery.

Conclusion: The exemption under Notification No. 117/94-Cus. applied to the imported gold jewellery, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The Revenue failed to establish any legal basis to deny the import licence benefit or the exemption, and the appeal was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a licensing or exemption entry uses the generic term "gold" without limiting its form, it covers all forms of gold unless the instrument expressly restricts the scope, and an import restriction on used goods is not attracted merely because the goods are described as old.

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