9911796707
TMI Blog2013 (7) TMI 758X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ting Authority. 2. Facts may be noted in brief : 2.1 The State of Gujarat experienced devastating earthquake on 26-1-2001. The impact of the earthquake was felt by the entire State as well as in the neighbouring areas. City of Ahmedabad also faced its fair share of brunt of the earthquake. Several buildings collapsed leading to loss of human lives and property. To meet with such natural calamity in future, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation imported certain goods useful for disaster management which were donated by the Government of Netherland and another agency called CORDAID. Such equipments were imported under six different bills of entries. The goods arrived between January, 2003 to August, 2004. Considering the special nature of goods a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... exemption order duly rectified to remove the anomaly in the value. In view of this, Deputy Commissioner, Customs, passed an order on 16-6-2006 confirming the demand of differential duty of Rs. 5,38,021/- from the petitioners. This confirmation order pertained to three bills of entries under which the goods were imported. In such order, he noted the contentions of the petitioners that the petitioners have been in correspondence with the Government of India for granting exemption for the revised value of goods which ultimately were imported along with relevant documents with regard to the shipment. He, however, concluded that despite sufficient time being granted, no such document was produced before him. He concluded that there was differen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of 6,40,169.80 Euros. Along with such order, details of the imported equipments were also annexed. Armed with such exemption order, the petitioners approached the Customs Commissioner under communication dated 29-3-2008 issued by their lawyers. In such communication, it was pointed out that the Government of India had amended the previous exemption order dated 22-3-2004. In view of such amendments, the petitioners requested the Commissioner of Customs, Ahmedabad to intervene in the matter and direct the officials of the Customs Department not to press for recovery against the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. It appears that in the meantime, in view of the two orders-in-original confirming duty demand, the Customs Authority had also issued ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5-1997 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, in which relying on the opinion of the Attorney General of India on the scope of Section 25(2) of the Act, it was clarified that : "If the requirements of Section 25(2) are satisfied, I am of the view that an exemption can be passed under Section 25(2) even after the goods have been imported, exemption can also be granted even after the duty has been paid in which even the duty paid has to be refunded." 5. Counsel relied on the following decisions of learned Single Judge of two High Courts taking a view that under Section 25(2) of the Act, the Government of India has the power to issue necessary exemption orders even after import of the goods : (i) In case of Indi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rt. In such order, the value of goods under import showed 5,96,211 Euros whereas the actual value of goods imported came to 6,40,169.80 Euros. 3. The Customs Authorities demanded the duty on goods on the premise that there was discrepancy in the value indicated in the exemption order and the actual imports and further that the detail containing list of the imports was not available. In absence of such details, two orders-in-original dated 14-6-2006 and 16-6-2006 came to be passed confirming the duty demand. 4. Subsequently, the Government of India issued an amendment to the earlier exemption which order came to be passed on 12-11-2007. Both the defects were cured. The figure of 5,96,211 Euros was substituted by 6,40,196.80 Euros and the l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that view of the matter, the petitioners were entitled to full waiver of customs duty and the additional duties on the imports made. It is of course true that by the time, such subsequent order dated 12-11-2007 came to be passed, the orders-in-original were already passed and the duty demand confirmed. However, insofar as the present petition is concerned, such intervening developments would not be of any consequence because these orders are also in challenge before us. Equally the fact that in one of the cases, the petitioner did not prefer an appeal and in another case such appeal came to be dismissed also would be of no consequence. This is so because such orders are directly in challenge before us. We are examining the legality of such ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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