2015 (4) TMI 887

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.... main issue involved in these writ petitions is with regard to the question of provisional release of the goods which are essentially LED lights and Christmas lights. In both these cases, the goods were imported by the petitioners, who were the Import Export Code (IEC) holders and the petitioners had also filed the bills of entry. The goods have been detained by the customs authority on the ground that the goods belong to one Mr Amarnath Jindal and that the petitioners allegedly have an agreement with him for which they get a fixed amount for the imports. The sum and substance of the allegation is that the imports are being made by the said Mr Amarnath Jindal using the Import Export Code (IEC) of the petitioners. It is for this reason that ....

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....t Section 7 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, which reads as follows :- 7. Importer-exporter Code Number. - No person shall make any import or export except under an Importer-exporter Code Number granted, by the Director General or the officer authorised by the Director General in this behalf, in accordance with the procedure specified in this behalf by the Director General". The expression "import" occurring in the said section means bringing into India of goods as defined under Section 2(e). There is nothing in the law which requires an importer to be either the consumer or even the buyer of the goods also. Even otherwise, we are of the opinion that it is a matter of common sense that no importer would con....

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....gment of a Division Bench of this Court in the case of Commissioner of Customs & Central Excise v. Achiever International: 2012 (286) ELT 180. We have gone through the said judgment. The facts of that case are entirely different to those of the present case. They also place reliance on the decision of the Madras High Court in the case of First Track Traders v. Commissioner of Customs, Tuticorin: 2012 (281) ELT 23 (Madras). First of all, that decision has been rendered by a learned Single Judge of the High Court of Madras, Madurai Bench. In any event, we are unable to understand as to how that judgment would be applicable to the facts of the present case. The only point referred to by the learned counsel for the respondents was with regard t....