2002 (4) TMI 861

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....re not permissible for import and required an import licence. After considering the contentions raised in the reply, the Commissioner concluded that the licence which was required for import of these goods not having been produced, the import was unauthorised, and has ordered confiscation of the goods giving the appellant an option to redeem them on payment of duty, and imposed penalty on it. Hence this appeal. 2. The basis for the Commissioner is that at the relevant time, the import policy placed naphtha in the negative list and therefore required a licence. The policy as it stood at the relevant time read as below :- "Import permitted without a licence subject to the condition that the importer shall sell the return stream of naph....

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....dated 14-11-2000, the Export Commissioner in the office of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, referring to a letter from the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade. Subsequently, the same view was communicated to the Export Commissioner by letter dated 14-11-2000. 5. In the course of the adjudication proceedings, the appellant had relied upon these letters to say that the licensing authority had itself clarified that the import by it did not require a licence and was within the terms of the policy. The Commissioner has declined to accept these letters. He initially objects that these letters are not addressed to him, but to the Deputy Commissioner. He goes on to sa....

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....d. Nowhere in this letter is there anything which can be interpreted that the import of naphtha can only by actual users. The letter is in fact very clear as to the recommendation which was made to the Commerce Secretary, in effect, allowing import by actual users only cannot be accepted because that was in conflict with the requirements of the World Trade Organisation. There is no basis for the Commissioner's conclusion that the letter provides that import of naphtha can only be made by actual users. 7. In fact the provisions of the policy do not contain any condition except where it is imported as fuel power sector in which case it has been imported by actual users in accordance with the public notice. The policy thus permitted impo....