Demand of Interest and penalty on amount already recovered...

Demand of Interest and penalty on amount already recovered towards duty foregone - advance licence scheme - There can be no doubt that such condition was not in existence at the time of import and the show cause notice is also conspicuously silent on the availability of section 28AB of Customs Act, 1962 for such charging. The licence and the exemption notification are silent on such contingent charging; the sole provision cited by lower authorities is paragraph 128 of Handbook of Procedures which can hardly be claimed as a statutory prescription of the Foreign Trade Policy. - the charging of interest and imposition of penalty is set aside - AT