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TMI Blog1988 (11) TMI 251X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3 Jamnagar dated 29-2-1984 passed by the Collector of Customs (Appeals), Bombay. 2. As the party to these appeals are being the same and as they involve common questions of law and facts, they are clubbed together, heard together, hence this common order. 3. After hearing both the sides, the Bench had rejected both the appeals on 13-9-1988. The reasons for rejection are recorded as under :- As the facts in both the appeals are common it is sufficient if we set out the facts in appeal No. 1679/84. The vessel M.V. Mahabharat of the respondents arrived at Okha on 16-6-1979 with a cargo of 16 tons of copper scrap and 2.018 M.Tons of piwxwa loaded from Kuwait and Doha. The cargo so loaded was to be discharged at the port of Bombay. But t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e, urged that the appeals filed by the Collector may be dismissed. 8. Shri Chakraborty, appearing for the appellant Collector however, sought to make a distinction that the ratio of the decision of the Bombay High Court in the above referred case is inapplicable to the present appeals. He urged that the learned Collector of Customs (Appeals) committed an error in relying on the judgment of the Bombay High Court. Having regard to the above contention, we consider it necessary to examine the facts as well as the ratio of the decision of the case before the Bombay High Court. 9. In the Misc. Petition before the Bombay High Court M/s. The Great Eastern Shipping Co. Ltd. challenged the order of the Asstt. Collector of Customs, the Collecto ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and Indian was discharged at Calcutta. 11. Since the vessel lifted larger quantity of goods from Bombay and Madras for delivery at Madras and Calcutta and the local cargo being more than the foreign cargo carried by the vessel between Bombay and Calcutta, the Customs authorities treated the vessel as having entered into coastal run for the purpose of levying duty on ship stores and therefore the duty was demanded. 12. The Bombay High Court after referring to the provisions of Section 2(7), 2(21) and 2(38) and Sections 86 and 87 rejected the contentions advanced on behalf of the department that because on its journey from Bombay to Calcutta the vessel carried coastal cargo weighing 7,038 metric tonnes for Madras and 1,544 metric tonne ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t was for the time being engaged in carrying coastal goods. This contention does not appear to me to be correct, because the vessel was principally engaged in delivering cargo intended for Madras and Calcutta which it has taken at ports abroad. If in the course of that voyage, it took some Indian cargo, it could not be said to be engaged in carrying coastal goods, because the main purpose of the voyage was to deliver goods at Indian ports which the vessel had brought from foreign ports. I also do not accept the contention on behalf of the Respondents that because the vessel had some coastal cargo on board along with foreign cargo when it sailed from Bombay, the vessel could not be treated as a foreign-going vessel within the meaning of Sect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rrying for delivery at the Port of Bombay it did so only not to waste the carrying capacity of the vessel which would have been a dead loss to the company. As has been held by the Bombay High Court, the voyage between Okha and Bombay cannot be treated as a coastal run. The ship stores consumed during the course of a compulsory voyage from Okha to Bombay which was necessitated by the existence of foreign cargo on board would be exempted from payment of duty as provided under Section 87 of the Customs Act. 14. The contention of Shri Chakraborty that the ratio of the decision of the Bombay High Court is inapplicable to the facts of these appeals, in our opinion, is not correct. The ratio of the decision of the Bombay High Court applies in a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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