2022 (11) TMI 570

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....all Writ Appeals) COMMON JUDGMENT R.MAHADEVAN, J. Aggrieved over the order dated 07.07.2022 passed by the Writ Court in W.P(MD) Nos.12887, 13643, 12888, 12887 and 13644 of 2022. the official respondents in the said writ petitions, have come up with these writ appeals. 2. The aforesaid writ petitions were filed by the first respondent / writ petitioner for issuance of a Writ of Mandamus, directing the appellants herein to release the 338 bags (27.04 MTs) of Betel Nut product known as Supari (unflavoured supari) of Myanmar Origin imported vide Bill of Entry No.7556557 dated 18.02.2022, classifiable under CTH 21069030 which was assessed and totally valued at USD 40560/- (CNF) for 27.04 MTs and further to direct the appellants herei....

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.... officers of customs and forwarded to Custom House Laboratory, Chennai, for testing through DRI. During examination of the said goods, by the officers of SIIB, Custom House, Tuticorin, in the presence of officers of DRI, Tuticorin, it was found that in the place of the declared goods Betel nut product known Supari (unflavouredsupari), falling under CTH 21069030, the bags contained areca nut in whole/split form', classifiable under CTH 080280, stuffed in gunny bags. The officers further found that the value declared for the imported goods in the respective Bills of Entry were less than the value of Rs. 251/kg fixed by DGFT, thus prohibited for import. Accordingly, the above mentioned import consignments of Areca nuts were seized under Se....

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....t with the aspect relating to prohibition/restriction of goods and in paragraph No.9 observed as follows: "9.Unfortunately, both the Commissioner and the Tribunal did not advert to the provisions of the Foreign Trade Act. The High Court dealing with the same has aptly noticed that Section 11(8) and (9) read with Rule 17(2) of the Foreign Trade (Regulation) Rules, 1993 provides for confiscation of goods in the event of contravention of the Act, Rules or Orders but which may be released on payment of redemption charges equivalent to the market value of the goods. Section 3(3) of the Foreign Trade Act provides that any order of prohibition made under the Act shall apply mutatis mutandis as deemed to have been made Under Section 11 of ....

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....ioners for provisional release of commodities under Section 110A of the Customs Act. In support of his submission, the learned counsel for the first respondent / writ petitioner placed reliance on a decision of the Division Bench of this Court in W.P(MD) Nos.11942 of 2022 and batch cases, [M/s.Blue Vista International Ltd., v. The Commissioner of Customs], wherein, this Court held as under:- "8. In terms of Notification No.20/2015-2020 dated 25.07.2018, the Director General of Foreign Trade has held that all products falling under Chapter-8 are freely importable subject to the condition that the import value is Rs.251/- and above per kilogram CIF. Admittedly, the commodities in all consignments in the present cases, are valued at l....