2007 (6) TMI 368

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..... rential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) Notification No. 105/99. The country of Origin, as per the Certificate of Origin, is Pakistan. Since Pakistan does not produce Cloves, investigations were carried out. The Commissioner referred the matter to the Spices Board for confirmation as to whether Pakistan is known to have Clove production and export. The Spices Board referred the matter to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. After local enquiries, the High Commission found that Cloves are not grown in Pakistan. The first consignment was cleared provisionally after the execution of a Bank Guarantee for 10% differential duty. As regards the second consignment, in view of the order of the Hon ble High Court of Kerala, the same was released on pay .....

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..... te issued by the Pakistan Government in terms of the relevant rules of origin under the Free Trade Agreement can be discarded. (ii) The reliance placed on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi s dated 17-5-2005 is misplaced. There is a statement in Para 2 of the above letter to the effect that neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh is a grower of Cloves. This is a bland statement not supported by any evidence. (iii) As per SAPTA Notification 105/99, a proper Certificate as stipulated in the Notification has to be produced by the importers. If at all the Certificate is to be discarded, the department has to conclusively prove beyond doubt that this Certificate is either a fabricated one or faked one and not genuine. In the absen .....

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..... ed and as the same has not been cancelled, they are entitled for the benefit of the said Notification. Normally, certificates of Origin issued by the authorities of a foreign country are accepted for purposes of concessional rate of duty in terms of Preferential Trading Arrangement. But, at certain times, Certificates are issued, which are contrary to facts. The simple issue here is whether the Certificate of Origin, certifying that the imported Cloves are from Pakistan, is to be accepted or not. It is a matter of general knowledge that Cloves, a kind of spice, are generally produced in Indonesia, Zanzibar and Madagascar and India. Certain agricultural products grow only in certain parts of the world due to various reasons. For example, Man .....

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