Procedural countersignature defect cannot defeat customs exemption for project imports; duty demand and penalties were set aside.

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....Under Notification No. 84/97-Cus, belated production of the Project Implementing Authority certificate, including the countersignature requirement, was treated as procedural rather than substantive. The Tribunal applied earlier precedent to hold that exemption could not be denied solely because the certificate was not filed in the exact prescribed form before clearance, where the project otherwise satisfied the notification. On that basis, the customs duty demand, interest, confiscation and penalty against the importer were set aside. The separate penalty on the bank was also unsustainable because the alleged omission was only procedural and no confiscation was upheld.....