1989 (7) TMI 266

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....t of 12% Nickelply Wire Cloth Cold Bonded/Mesh Nickel/Cold Bonded Wire Cloth against OGL Appendix 10 Sr. No. 1 of AM 1983. This was objected to by the customs department on the ground that the goods are wire cloth/sieve cloth of mesh less than 400 and hence are coming under Serial 502 of Appendix 3 of AM 83, requiring a specific licence. In the ad-judication proceedings conducted by the Additional Collector, the goods valued at Rs. 2,33,423.00 were ordered confiscation but allowed redemption on payment of fine of Rs. 75,000/-. The present appeal is against the order of confiscation and imposition of redemption fine. 4. Shri S.B. Patil, the Learned Consultant, on behalf of the appellants, stated that the suppliers had wrongly described th....

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....ot woven wire cloth. In the case of test seives as per I.S.I., the material used are phospher bronze, brass, mild steel, stainless steel etc. and in this case the goods imported are of nickel ply bonded mesh. Only the mesh for test seives and wire cloth for test seives are said to be covered by Appendix 3. In this case, the goods imported are for the manufacture of batteries and hence Customs Dept. ought not to have applied serial 502 of Appendix 3, but allowed clearance under OGL, especially in the context of clarification received by the appellant, even prior to import. He also submitted that subsequent to the adjudication M/s. Punjab Power Packs Ltd. (A Government of Punjab Undertaking) had specifically sought for clarification in respec....

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....GTD, this was not available before the authorities below. If this is to be considered, the matter is required to be remanded. 6. Shri S.B. Patil, the Learned Counsel, in reply contended that they have taken all precautions and even approached for the essentiality certificate so that if licence is required, to obtain the same. Many consignments have also been cleared in the past. As they are the actual users, a fine of Rs. 75,000/- cannot be imposed for no fault of theirs. 7. After hearing both sides and perusing the available records, we observe the following position. The department's contention that the item imported is a woven material is correct. Because even in the technical literature, it is shown as woven with nickel coated ste....