JUDGMENT
M.L. Pendse, J.
1. This is an appeal preferred by the Union of India against the judgment dated April 29, 1983 delivered by Mr. Justice Lentin in Writ Petition No. 1149 of 1980. The judgment directs the Union of India to refund the amount of Rs. 12,17,537.17 within 12 weeks from the date of the order. The facts which gave rise to the filing of the petition are as follows:
2. The respondent-company is successor-in-title of International Tractor Company of India Limited and since 1964, the Company manufactures agricultural tractors and the components of the tractors including hydraulic lifts and 3-point linkages are imported. Agricultural tractors are declared to be “essential commodities” and the selling prices were fixed by the Government of India, By notification dated August 6, 1960, certain exemptions were granted for component parts of the machinery required for the purpose of initial setting up or for its assembly or manufacture. By another notification dated January 5, 1963, issued in exercise of powers conferred by Section 23 of the Sea Customs Act, the Central Government exempted:
Parts of all tractors when imported into India solely for agricultural purposes from the whole of the duty of customs leviable thereon:
Provided that the importer, by execution of a bond in such form as may be prescribed by the Customs Collector, binds himself to pay on demand, in respect of such parts as not proved to the satisfaction of the Customs Collector to have been used for the aforesaid purposes, an amount equal to the duty leviable on such parts but for the exemption.
3. Between December, 1964 and July, 1968, the company imported about 58 consigments of hydraulic lifts and 3-point linkages and the customs department recovered duty aggregating to Rs. 3,73,980.47. The company asserted that the duty was paid under protest and in respect of bills of entries filed, an endorsement was made on the reverse that the duty was paid under protest. The first bill of entry was filed on December 15, 1964.
On May 30, 1968, the Collector of Customs, Bombay issued public notice in respect of the question of assessment of hydraulic lifts and 3-point linkages. The public notice recites:
The Board considers that hydraulic lift and 3-point linkages should be treated as component parts of agricultural tractors. These equipments should, therefore, when imported with tractors, be assessed free of duty in terms of notification No. 2-Cus. dated January 5, 1963.
4. On December 4, 1968, the Company requested Central Board of Excise and Customs to grant refund in respect of the duty recoverd between year 1964 and 1968. On December 23, 1968, the Under Secretary to the Government of India advised the Company to have recourse to appellate remedies under the Customs Act. Thereupon on January 18, 1969, the company filed refund application before the Assistant Collector of Customs, Bombay and that application came to be rejected on the ground that refund cannot be granted in view of the limitation prescribed under Section 27(1) of the Customs Act. The appeal preferred by the company so also the revision application before the Central Government ended in dismissal. The Company challenged these orders by filing Miscellaneous Petition No. 288 of 1973 under Article 226 of the Constitution of India on the original side of this Court and at the hearing of the petition before one of us (Pendse, J.) on August 24, 1971, it was conceded on behalf of the Union of India that the matter would be heard afresh and the claim of refund would be decided on merits without raising any objection on the ground of limitation. Accordingly, the orders passed by the authorities were set aside and the proceedings were remitted back to the Government of India for disposal of the claim of refund on merits within a period of six months. The Government of India in its turn remitted the matter to the Assistant Collector and the Assistant Collector dismissed the application of refund on the ground that reliance on notification dated January 5, 1963 was not placed by the company when initial refund was sought. The company thereupon preferred Writ Petition No. 1149 of 1980 under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and that petition was allowed by the learned single Judge by the impugned judgment.
5. Mr. Shah, learned counsel appearing on behalf the appellants, strenuously urged that the learned single Judge was in error in granting refund on an erroneous assumption that the advantage of exemption prescribed by notification dated January 5, 1963 is available to the company. We are unable to find any merit in the submission. As mentioned hereinabove, by notification dated January 5, 1963 issued in exercise of powers conferred by Section 23 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878, the Central Government exempted parts of all tractors when imported into India solely for the agricultural purposes from the whole of the duty. It is not the claim of Mr. Shah that the components of the parts of the tractors imported by the company were not used solely for the agricultural purposes. The only objection raised by Mr. Shah is that 1963 notification grants exemption to only those importers who are carrying out agricultural operations. It is impossible to accede to the submission because the submission does violence to the plain language of the notification. The notification nowhere provides that exemption is available only in cases where the importer is an agriculturist. Indeed, such restriction cannot be provided by notification issued in exercise of powers under Section 23 of the Sea Customs Act. It is possible for the Government of India to provide for such condition by an Import Policy but surely, power to exempt from payment of duty cannot be limited only to those importers who are agriculturists. Mr. Shah made a faint attempt to urge that the earlier notification dated August 6, 1960 granted exemption in respect of import of machinery and component parts and that notification covered all sorts of machineries and was not restricted to the tractors, while the latter notification specifically deals with tractors and which are used for the agricultural purposes and, therefore, it must be concluded that the exemption under the subsequent notification was limited only to agriculturist importers. We find no merit in the submission because the earlier notification of the year 1960 granted exemption to all machineries and components, while 1963 notification is more specific and refers to tractors.
Mr. Shah then urged that the advantage of 1963 notification is not available in respect of import of components. The submission is only required to be stated to be rejected. The notification specifically recites that exemption would be available when parts of tractors are imported into India. Though other unsustainable contentions were raised before the learned single Judge, Mr, Shah very fairly did not press any of them. In our judgment, the decision under challenge suffers from no infirmity and appeal must. fail.
6. Accordingly, appeal is dismissed with costs.