ORDER
Jyoti Balasundram, Vice President
1. The respondents The respondents herein filed Bills of Entry for clearance of 100% polyester knitted table cloth. Since the goods appeared to be classifiable as table as table linen under Customs Tariff Heading 6302.40 and were restricted for import except under a specific licence, confiscation of the goods was proposed and imposition of penalty on the importer was also proposed. Show cause notice was waived by the importers. Personal hearing was granted to them. The adjudicating Authority ie. The Dy. Commissioner of Customs found that the goods are table cloth covered under CTA 6302.40 and since no valid import licence was produced for covering the import thereof, he confiscated the goods under Section 111(d) of the Customs Act, 1962 with option to redeem the same on payment of fine of Rs. 40,000/-. However, the chose not to impose any penalty on the importer on the ground that the import was made under a bonafide belief that the goods are covered under SIL. The commissioner (Appeals) accepted the importers’ claim for classification under CTH 6304.91 and goods falling under this heading did not require specific licencefor their import and he held to that the special import licence submitted would be valid to cover the goods and therefore, set aside the order of adjudication. Hence this appeal by the Revenue.
2. The Customs Tariff Heading 6302.40 covers table linen, knitted or crocheted. Examples of table linen as seen in HSN Explanatory notes are table cloth, tea napkins etc. Explanatory notes to this heading only exclude table centers of velvet or brocaded materials and bad placed them under heading 63.04 which covers “other furnishing articles excluding those of heading No. 94.04”. The goods in question are found to be table cloth by the Commissioner (Appeals). He has held that sample is crocheted knitted material which can be used as a furnishing article as a cover and not as a cloth during meals. We are not able to understand the logic behind this reasoning. Table cloth even knitted and crocheted can be used to cover the table as a tablecloth during meals. Therefore, such table cloth was clearly deserved to be considered as table cloth covered under CTH 6302.40 We, therefore, set aside the classification under CTH 6304.91 and uphold the Revenue’s contention in the appeal that the goods under import fall for classification under CTH 6304.40. We note that there is no ground in the appeal before us regarding imposition of penalty upon the importers. Therefore, we are not required to go into the question as to whether importers are liable to any penalty. The appeal is allowed as above.