Judgment:
1. In this Reference Application filed by the applicants Collector of Customs, Calcutta, a prayer has been made to the effect that under Sub-section (1) of Section 130 of the Customs Act, 1962, a statement of the case be drawn up and the question of law involved in this case may be referred to the Hon'ble High Court of Calcutta. It was stated in the petition that the imported Chilled Cast Iron Rolls falls within the purview of Appendix 3, Sl. No. 446 of Import Policy 1983-84. Hence, the same does not fall under Appendix 10, Sl. No. 4 and is not covered by OGL. It was contended that the confiscation imposing redemption fine by the learned Collector was justified. It was stated that there is a point of law which has arisen out of the order of this Tribunal and the point of law may be referred to the High Court.
2. The authorised representative for the repondent, Shri P.N. Gupta has filed objections stating that no question of law arises out of the order passed by this Tribunal because the findings as well as the order of this Tribunal are based on facts and not on law. It was stated by him that the items are "Cast iron and cast steel rolls (finished weight per roll upto 30 tonnes) for industrial use" mentioned at Sl. No. 446 of Appendix-3 of Import Policy, 1983-84, which do not mention about any spares whereas the respondent imported the goods as spares and cleared them from the Customs authorities as spares. This fact is still not denied by the applicants. Therefore, he stated that caption to Appendix-3 shows that sparees other than iron and steel and ferro alloys alone are listed in Appendix-3. It was, therefore, his contention that Sl.No. 446 of Appendix-3 does not refer to any spares of Ferro Alloys whereas the spares imported by the respondents are made of Ferro Alloys. He reiterated that no question of law has arisen out of the order of the Tribunal and the Reference Application filed by the department should be rejected.
3. The learned SDR Shri M.N. Biswas contended that a point of law has arisen inasmuch as interpretation of the Import Policy of 1983-84 is involved.
4. We have heard the arguments advanced on both the sides. This Tribunal had held in the order mentioned above that Chilled Cast Iron Rolls imported by the appellants are covered under Sl.No. 4 of Appendix-10 of Import Policy, 1983-84 and is, therefore, covered by OGL. It was also held by this Tribunal that the view taken by learned Collector that the importation is hit by Sl.No. 446 of Appendix-3 is not correct. In coming to this conclusion various provisions, definitions and explanations mentioned in the Policy have been discussed by this Tribunal and, therefore, we are of the opinion that a point of law has arisen out of the order passed by this Tribunal in the above matter. That being the position, the same is to be referred to the Hon'ble High Court of Calcutta. In the result, we refer this point of law arising out of order of Tribunal to the Hon'ble High Court of Calcutta, under Section 130 (1) of Customs Act, 1962, in the following form: "Whether the Chilled Cast Iron Rolls, which were imported by the appellants, are covered by Appendix-10, Clause (4) of 1983-84 Policy, or alternatively by Entry No. 2 of Appendix-10, or whether the Chilled Cast Iron Rolls are covered by Appendix-3, Sl.No. 446 of 1983-84 Policy ?"