Full Judgment
2. We have heard both sides. The material on record is not sufficient to determine whether the fuel and oil were in the vessel's machinery as contended by the applicant to argue that they would be considered to form an integral part of the vessel and should not be assessed separately. Queries from the bench were directed as to the existence of any surveyor's report which might show the location of the fuel and oil on which the demand has been confirmed, but no report was available.
What was placed before us is the declaration of the master of the vessel for the inventory of the stores, oil, etc., on board the ship.
This also does not show the location of tanks in which the fuel and oil, on which demand has been continued, were located. Since the applicants have not made out a prima facie case, as seen from the above, we direct pre-deposit of the entire duty demand of Rs. 7,94,269/- within a period of 8 weeks from today, failing which the appeal will be dismissed for non-compliance, without any further notice.