2000 (5) TMI 366
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....yment of fine of Rs. 5,00,000/- plus Rs. 1,00,000/-. He also demanded differential duty of Rs. 8,14,291/- on the ground that the said part consignment cannot qualify as melting scrap and therefore, would not be covered by Notification No. 23/98-Cus., dated 2-6-98. The impugned order has also imposed penalty of Rs. 1,00,000/-. 2. Heard Sri S. Murugappan, learned advocate assisted by Ms. Vijayalakshmi, advocate for the appellants and Sri S. Kannan, learned D.R. 3. The learned advocate submits that appellants are engaged in the business of producing iron & steel products in their furnace by using light melting scrap and accordingly, they have placed orders only for light melting scrap being an actual user. However, in view of t....
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....of the consignment. He submits that merely because they were packed in wooden pallets tied with iron strips at the lower end of the container does not go to prove that the goods were concealed. He submits that scroll sheets are normally packed in same method. With respect to the variation in declared weight, he submits that the variation between the two namely declared weight of 98.715 MTs and ascertained weight of 105.53 MTs is marginal and they have declared the weight as per the documents received from the foreign supplier. 5. With respect to the enhancement of the valuation contained in the order impugned, he submits that 30.453 MTs of metal sheets which have been re-valued at US $ 734 per MT as against declared price of US $ 11....
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.... were surfaced by long metal sheets which facilitated a prima facie view, on sample examination that the goods were scrap, whereas inside the pallets the goods were different being tin coated metal sheets. He further submits that the Board's instructions relied upon by the learned advocate would not apply in this case because they pertain to the distinction between the re-rollable scrap and melting scrap and the offending goods are already rolled final products and not re-rollable scrap at all. He also submits that the facts in the case of Antartic Industries Ltd. (supra) were that metal was old, used, bent and crushed. In this case, it was neither used nor bent, nor crushed and therefore, the facts were different and the decision would sta....
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....ecifications submitted by the learned advocate, though considered New Black Sheets also as scrap, but such sheets would have to be imported as Hydraulically compressed bundles, in the present case there has been no such hydraulical compression at all, thus rendering them capable of used and serviced. Even if the sheets are not of uniform size, that by itself cannot render them as waste and scrap. This is in view of the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of L.M.L. Ltd. (supra), wherein even off-cuts of steel sheets which had no uniform dimensions were not treated as waste & scrap. To that extent, the ratio of the said judgment would apply in this case also. The situation considered by the Tribunal in the case of Bajaj Auto Ltd. (....
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....nsions of these were not uniform and varied as recorded therein. He submits that new and prime quality material is always conforming to the ordered size including thickness. As against this, the Mahazar itself records not only the length and width are not uniform but even the thickness is also not uniform. Therefore, we agree with this contention that at best, these would also be treated as tin plaste waste/rejected sheets at serial number 3 of the said table at internal page 5 of the order impugned, which has been valued at US $ 325 per MT. In view of the fact that these were not of prime quality and of uniform dimensions, we are inclined to give the benefit of doubt to the appellants in this respect and we hold that these 34.722 MTs would....
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