TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (7) TMI 726
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....carry out its Mine II expansion project. One such tender was for buying steel cord conveyor belt which is essential for the said expansion project. The appellant was selected and upon such selection NLCL wrote to the Ministry of Heavy Industries to approve the Importation of the materials as listed by the appellant at a concessional rate so that the total cost of the project remains less. The Ministry of Heavy Industries duly approved the said list of materials and requested the Customs department to grant concession on the customs duty on those materials as and when imported. 2.1. After approval of the Administrative Ministry, the appellant who had entered into various contracts with various foreign suppliers for supplying various goods as listed in the list approved by the Ministry of the Heavy Industries. The appellant also registered contracts with the proper officer in the concerned port in terms of the Regulation 5 of the Project Import Regulation, 1995 (PIR in short). 2.2. As per Regulation 7 of PIR, 1986, the importer is required to submit a reconciliation statement indicating the details of goods imported, along with other supporting documents, within three months or ext....
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....in the project. Accordingly, he submits that the Ld. lower authorities have confirmed the demands of customs duty along with interest and denied concessional rate of duty benefit as provided under the Project Import Regulations. Thus, he supported the impugned order. 5. Heard both sides and perused the appeal documents. 6. We observe that the appellant has got themselves registered with the proper officer in terms of the Regulation 5 of the Project Import Regulation, 1995. We find that the Ministry of Heavy Industries have duly approved the list of materials required for the Project and requested the Customs department to grant concessional rate of duty on those materials. As per the Project Import Regulations, the goods were provisionally assessed under the CTH 9801. As per Regulation 7 of PIR 1986 as amended, the importer is required to submit a reconciliation statement indicating the details of goods imported, along with other supporting documents, within three months of import of last consignment for home consumption or within the extended time period granted, and finalise the provisional assessments ordered for the goods imported. This is the responsibility cast upon the imp....
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.... of Gas Authority of India Ltd. reported in 2003 (159) ELT 468. High Court of Andhra Pradesh in the case of CCE, Hyderabad v. Creative Indus Pvt. Ltd. reported in 2012 (282) ELT 349 where after a gap of ten years Department required the assessee to produce an installation certificate in terms of Regulation 7 of PIR the Tribunal held that there is no requirement of producing any Installation Certificate in terms of Regulation 7 of the Regulations. The Tribunal further held that there is no such condition for determining the eligibility of the concessional rate of duty. On appeal, the Hon'ble High Court upheld the decision and held that there is no reason to take a view different from that expressed by the Tribunal more particularly since there is no requirement of an Installation Certificate to be furnished by the assessee in the language of Regulation 7 above. 14. In view of entire above discussion, I hold that substantial benefit of exemption from Customs duty has wrongly been denied by invoking procedural provision which is not at all mandatory. The findings are therefore, set aside. In view of entire above discussion, I hereby set aside the impugned order. However, the cas....
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....f the main observations is that Installation Certificate itself appears to be bogus since it has been found to be totally a brand new. The answer given by learned counsel to this serious observation is that the appellant has produced such Installation Certificate in the first round of litigation and copies were produced before the Commissioner (Appeals) in the second round and when coples are taken, naturally they are taken on fresh paper. That could be the reason leading to this observation. 10. In view of the clear decision of the Hon'ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh, benefit of exemption notification cannot be denied on the ground that Installation Certificate has not been produced. In the absence of any evidence showing that the equipment was not installed, the decision of the Hon'ble High Court has to be followed and appeals have to be allowed with consequential relief. 6.5. A perusal of the above decisions indicate that Regulation 7 is a procedural requirement to be adhered by the appellant. However, if they failed to file the reconciliation statement and other documents for finalization of the provisional assessment, then the benefit of exemption or concessional r....