1988 (2) TMI 73
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....e writ petition. Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 are the Union of India and the Collector of Customs respectively. The show cause notice is of nearly 33 pages which gives a detailed history of the facts and circumstances under which the 1st petitioner company, namely, Reliance Industries Ltd., of which the 2nd petitioner is the Principal Officer and the shareholder, imported equipment under import licences issued to them for setting up plant for the manufacture of polyester filament yarn (PFY). The facts leading the petition have been, with respect, ably summarised by the learned Single Judge. It is not necessary to mention the same again in details in this order. Briefly stated, the Reliance Industries Ltd., formerly known as Reliance Textile Indu....
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....the company with the Excise Department. Paragraph 17 of the show cause notice records that it had been found that the entire PFY plant-capacity, calculated in any of the ways, was more than 55,000 M.T. per annum which was more than double the declared licensed capacity. From this an inference has been drawn that equipment more than what is permitted under the import licence has been imported by the 1st petitioner company and, therefore, there is evasion of import duty. The total admitted invoice price of the plant having declared capacity of 25,125 M.T. per year was Rs. 61.47 crores. On this basis the invoice price of the PFY plant having installed capacity of 55,440 M.T. per annum would be Rs. 122.94 crores. The show cause notice, therefor....
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.... on the ground alleged by the respondents, because the action contemplated by the respondents precedes and does not follow the action of clearing of the goods made by the proper officer under Section 47 of the Customs Act. It is not necessary, at this stage, to discuss the effect of the respondents' failure to give inspection of all the bills of entry in their possession. The question is said to be one of law, namely, whether, after the goods have been cleared for home consumption by the proper officer acting under Section 47 of the Customs Act, the goods can be said to be covered by the description contained in Section 111 of the Customs Act. 6. It was urged before the learned Single Judge that a Division Bench of this Court in Union of I....
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....e place upon section 47 of the Customs Act by the petitioners is hopelessly misplaced as the goods have been imported pursuant to the contracts which have been registered under Project Imports (Registration of Contract) Regulations, 1985 and the clearance of goods has been made under Section 143 of the Customs Act. Continuity bonds have been executed by the petitioners. It is in this context, says Mr. Andhyarujina that the learned Single Judge has rightly held that the assessment and clearance of goods were provisional. 9. On the position which is alleged, namely, that the goods which have been assembled at Patalganga are now of an installed capacity which is more than double the installed capacity envisaged under the import licence pursua....