Insistence on a bank guarantee for provisional release of seized...

Insistence on a bank guarantee for provisional release of seized goods was held unsustainable where the classification dispute rested on an ambiguous CRCL report based largely on visual inspection, the examiner was not a food analyst, and the testing procedure under the Food Safety and Standards Regulations was not shown to have been followed. By contrast, the National Food Laboratory report supported fitness for human consumption. The Tribunal also noted that the relied-upon CBIC circular had been struck down by the Delhi HC. The goods were ordered to be released on the remaining provisional release conditions, leaving classification and other merits open for final adjudication.