2015 (10) TMI 1776

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....he respondent herein had imported through courier seven cartons of Front End Engineering Package (FEEP) and declared the value of USD 3 million for the aforesaid FEEP. These manuals were required for Purified Teraphthalic Acid (PTA) plant. In the aforesaid FEEP, technical information was contained which was required to engineer, construct, operate and maintain the PTA plant for the production of PTA and sale thereof. In other words, technical information was provided in the form of FEEP for the purposes of procuring, engineering, constructing, operation and maintenance of PTA Plant and sale of PTA anywhere in the world. In the bill of declaration which was filed by the respondent-assessee, the aforesaid goods were classified under Chapter H....

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....rtinent to mention that the issue of classification, at the relevant time when the goods in question were imported in June 1994, had been decided by the Tribunal in two judgments, i.e., Roto Inks Private Limited v. Collector of Customs [1990 (47) ELT 398] and Tata Consultancy Services v. Collector of Customs [1991 (53) ELT 452] classifying these very articles under tariff item 49.01. Thus, when the declaration was filed by the respondent, in view of the aforesaid position in law that was prevailing at that time, it was a bona fide declaration and cannot be treated as misdeclaration. No doubt, that in other case, the matter traveled up to this Court and this Court in the case of Commissioner of Customs (General), New Delhi v. Gujarat Perstor....

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....of Gujarat Perstorp Electronics case - 2005 (186) ELT (532) SC wherein the court noted in para 53 that "Some of the tests applied in Parasrampuria Synthetics Ltd. were not relevant and appropriate". It is thus clear from the above that the issue as to whether Manuals of the type imported by RIL could be understood & classified as Printed Books or not was a highly debatable one where more than one plausible views and opinions could co-exist Plea of bona fide belief. In entertaining the view that the Manuals, imported by RIL, in the year 1994, being Books under 4901 & were exempted from payment of duty can be accepted and found. They cannot be held or accused of having willfully misstated or suppressed facts. The history of classification of ....