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TMI Blog1994 (7) TMI 150X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ce with law . In view of the observation of the Hon ble High Court, we condone the delay in presentation of the appeals before the Tribunal. 2. These appeals arise out of the orders of the Collector of Customs, Madras. Since these appeals involve common issue and common pleas have been made by both the sides, these are taken up for disposal together. After having both sides operative portion of the order was announced in the open court. 3. Shri Habibula Badsha, the learned Senior Advocate for the appellants pleaded that the short point that falls for decision in the appeals is whether the goods described by the appellants as handicrafts can be allowed export. He pleaded that the appellants have filed three shipping bills for export of handicrafts made of sandal wood declaring them as handicrafts. He pleaded that the lower authority has however held that the handicrafts sought to be exported had superficial engravings of sandal wood and were not permissible for export in terms of Item 33(i) of Part A to the Schedule of Import and Export Policy for AM 1985-88 Vol. II and has disallowed the export and after administering a warning has allowed the appellants to take back the good ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... vered by the required certificate as per para 3A of Appendix II of the relevant policy. This certificate has been signed by the Deputy Director of Handicrafts who is the competent authority to issue this certificate. He further pleaded that this certificate clearly sets out that the goods sought to be exported are handicrafts. He pleaded that the Customs authorities who entertained doubt in regard to whether the goods were handicrafts or not examined the goods along with the said Deputy Director who again certified the same as handicrafts as seen from the order of the lower authority that the goods were inspected by the Assistant Collector (Docs) that he found the sandal wood carvings as handicrafts and referred to Annexure II, para 3A, Sl. No. 33 of the import and export policy AM 1985-88. It is not the case of the Department that the Deputy Director (Handicrafts) was not the competent officer for the purpose of certifying as to whether the goods were handicrafts or not and in fact the Department had been accepting the certificates issued by the said Deputy Director all along. He pleaded that in the proceedings drawn there is no allegation in regard to the genuineness of the cer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ctor has called it as handicraft, the other expert i.e. the Regional Director while calling it as hand-crafted has merely made a remark in regard to the economy of the work to the effect that the depth of the carvings should have been little deeper. He pleaded that once the work of an article can be made out as belonging to a particular school, or having been done by an artist of a particular area, it can be said that the item had artistic value. The policy merely required that the article should have some artistic or decorative value. In the present case, an inference can be drawn from the Director s report that the article had acquired some artistic value. He pleaded that the appellants filed written submission as can be seen from the Order No. S16/5/85 SIB/SIB/115/85 dated 4-2-1986 and the appellants had asked for the opinion to be taken from the experts who are carvers and also National award winners. This prayer was not granted and the Collector has merely stated as under in this regard while refusing permission :- If some outside agencies are allowed to examine and take on record favourable opinion, some other agencies can also be brought in by the Department for giving co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ired to obtain a certificate from the Regional Officer of the All India Handicrafts Board to the effect that the value addition of handicrafts made of sandal wood is a minimum of 200 per cent of the average base price of sandal wood per MT announced by the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts) from time to time. There is no dispute that such a certificate signed by the Deputy Director in terms of this para has been produced. This certificate has not been questioned by the lower authority. The appellants filed shipping bills accompanied by this certificate as envisaged above. The authorities, after the goods have been entered for export conducted examination of the goods sought to be exported along with the Deputy Director, handicrafts and the examination report as set out in the order in Original dated 4-2-1986 is as under : Certified that the goods were inspected with Assistant Collector (Docs) and found the articles as Sandal wood carvings (handicrafts). Necessary added value certificates as per Annexure II Para 3A of Page 33 of Import and Export Policy Vol. II 1985-88 has already been issued The authorities however, after examination jointly done with the Deputy Directo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ve value and further it has been set out that the goods have been invoiced on weight basis and the goods are not suggestive of being handicraft items and samples were drawn to get the opinion of the Regional Director (Handicrafts). 6. The issue sought to have been examined in the context of the definition of Handicraft under the General Note under heading Handicraft in the policy AM 1985-88, in the General note under column 5, Appendix 17 against item Handicrafts. We observe that the opinion of the Regional Director (Handi-crafts) had been sought for as to whether the item can be considered as Handi- crafts. It does not appear from the records that the said Director was appraised of the definition of Handicraft given in the General Note as above, nor opinion has been elicited from him as to whether the pieces sought to be exported had some artistic value or not. There is nothing on record to show that the opinion given by the Deputy Director was commented upon by the Regional Director. He has not in any way stated that the opinion of the Deputy Director was in any way wrong. The opinion given by the Regional Director is that :- (1)the sandal wood logs have been given surface or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rse comments in this regard either by the Regional Director or by the Ld. lower authority. This condition of value addition therefore has to be taken to have been fulfilled. The only other condition which is required to be satisfied relates to whether the item could be considered as handicraft for the purpose of export. In the show cause notice issued by the lower authority, it has been alleged as under : that the goods do not appear to be handicrafts as defined in the Import and Export Policy for AM 85-88 [(Vide General notes (i) in column 5 of Appendix 17 against Handicraft" (page 268)]. As per this definition articles will be deemed to be handicrafts only if such articles besides being made by hand, have some artistic or decorative value. Artistic or decorative value of the article need not necessarily come out of any art work, engraving or decoration done on the article but the very form, shape or design of the article could also be artistic and suggestive of the fact that the article is primarily meant for decorative and utility purpose". So what is required to be shown is that the item has some artistic or decorative value. In the present case, the Deputy Director has c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... irupathi and Kalahasti area. The only objection taken by him is regarding the depth of the lines being little less to minimise the use of labour. However, he has not stated in the cross-examination as to how much more deeper the lines should have been. Once it is accepted that the work done on a piece reflects the workmanship or art of artists of a particular region it can be safely assumed that the article as an art form has come into existence and therefore has some artistic or decorative value. Merely because the Regional Director has made some observations in regard to the nature of the work done on the sandal wood logs, that by itself would not take out the item from the purview of Handicraft as given in the import and export policy particularly when the item sought to be exported has some artistic and decorative value. In a situation like this, the best course for the authorities would have been to have accepted the request of the appellants to bring in some artists of repute for their opinion. The denial of the lower authority to allow the appellants to bring in such expert by holding that if the appellants are able to bring in some favourable opinion from such experts, the ..... 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