2001 (8) TMI 411

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....duct Group D 2.1(ii) Appendix 17 of the above Import Policy which covers leather goods and other animal products and, under that heading, sub-heading (ii) covers components of footwear including shoe uppers (excluding components of canvas shoes) and (g) refers to "consumable tools, testing equipment, designers' kit pre-punched cards used in leather industry and silver marking refills". 2. The Commissioner has noted from the representative samples that the actual goods imported were colour pencils, leeds, filter tip pens, sharpeners, erasers, compases, rulers, protractors, french curves, lettering guides, templates, telescopic pointer, drawing boards, pens, compass accessory drawing inks, replicable drafting points and lead holders. ....

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.... has held the item be confiscable under Section 111(d) of the Customs Act, 1962 read with Section 3(2) of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1947. However he has granted release on payment of fine of Rs. 6 lakhs. In view of the past customs practice of considering the item as 'designer's kit', he did not propose to impose penalty. 3. The ld. Counsel, Ms. Meenakshi at the outset submits that the technical opinion given by a Govt. institute like CLRI cannot be rejected and Commissioner has drawn his own conclusion pertaining to the items merely on the ground the item were separately priced. She submits that these certificates are genuine certificates, which were not contested by the Commissioner, and he cannot reject the experts o....

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....., Bombay and Another v. Union of India and Others as reported in 1984 (18) E.L.T. 172 (Bom.), Sandip Agarwal v. Collector of Customs as reported in 1992 (62) E.L.T. 528 (Cal.) and that of Mercantile Express Co. Ltd. v. Assistant Collector of Customs and Others as reported in 1978 (2) E.L.T. (J552). 5. The ld. Counsel also pointed out that the Tribunal in the case of Raja Bahadur Motilal Poona Mills Ltd. v CCE, Pune - 1998 (99) E.L.T. 62 (T) has decided the issue of classification of goods and its parts and held it to exemption granted under the Notification No. 71/86, dated 10-2-1986 and further held that the exemption is available to drawing and mathematical instruments. She also referred to Bombay High Court judgment rendered in ....

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....these vital certificates and draw adverse inference on his own based on presumptions and assumptions. The technical evidence is vital for determining the use of the item in question. One of the experts especially CLRI has certified the item to be a 'designer's kit' used within the leather industry. Therefore the Commissioner rejecting the vital evidence and the past practice of the Custom House to accept the items as 'designer kit' is not proper and correct. We notice that the judgment Raja Bahadur Motilal Poona Mills Ltd. v. CCE, Pune (supra) and Nibs India (supra) does not deal with the facts in issue pertaining to import license, but it deals with the classification under Customs Tariff Act and grant of benefit of customs duty under Noti....