Carry on business licence may satisfy industrial licence condition under customs notification, requiring fresh refund adjudication.

Customs Notification No. 176/83-Cus. required the importer to hold an industrial licence for slitting and confectioning of photo-sensitised materials from jumbo rolls, but it did not confine the requirement to any single licence category. A carry on business licence granted under the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 was treated as a form of industrial licence capable of satisfying that condition. Because the refund authority had not examined whether that licence met the notification requirement, the matter had to be reconsidered afresh by the original authority, including any relevant plea of unjust enrichment.

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Issues: Whether a carry on business licence under the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 satisfies the condition in Customs Notification No. 176/83-Cus. requiring the importer to hold an industrial licence for slitting and confectioning of photo-sensitised materials from jumbo rolls, and whether the matter should be remanded for fresh adjudication.

Analysis: The notification required the importer to hold an industrial licence under the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951, but it did not specify any particular category of licence. The record showed that a carry on business licence had been applied for and granted under the licensing regime of the Act, and that such a licence is one of the forms of industrial licence contemplated by the Act. Since the refund authority had not examined whether this licence satisfied the notification condition, there was no finding on a matter going to the root of eligibility. The proper course was therefore to send the matter back to the original authority for fresh consideration on the licence issue and on any other material relevant to the claim, including any plea of unjust enrichment.

Conclusion: A carry on business licence under Section 13(1) of the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951 could not be excluded from consideration as an industrial licence for the notification, and the refund claim required de novo adjudication by the original authority.

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