Full Judgment
2. The claims of the appellants for refund of the additional duty of customs did not meet with success at the hands of the lower authorities. Hence these appeals.
3. We have heard Shri V.B. Akolkar, Advocate, for the appellants and Shri V. Chandrasekaran, SDR, for the respondent.
4. Notification No. 234/82 dated 1-11-1982 exempts from the levy of excise duty several classes of goods. One such class is : "All bulk drugs, medicines and drug intermediates not elsewhere specified".
"In this notification "bulk drugs" means any chemical or biological or plant product, conforming to pharmacopoeial standards, used for the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation or prevention of diseases in human beings or animals, and as such or as an ingredient in any formulation." 5. The Collector (Appeals) has held that since the imported substance does not figure in any official pharmacopeia including Indian Pharmacopoeia, it cannot be treated as a drug conforming to pharmacopoeial standards.
6. Our attention has been drawn to references made by the Assistant Drugs Controller, New Customs House, Bombay referring samples of the imported substance to M/s. Italab Private Ltd. and M/s. C.M.A.Laboratories. Both these laboratories have, after analysis of these samples, certified that the samples were of standard quality. Our attention has also been drawn to the impugned order from which it is noted that the appellant had submitted end-use certificates issued by the Superintendent of Central Excise, Bombay stating that the imported substance had been utilized in the manufacture of the Life Saving Drug Dynazide Tablets. Further, certificate from the Commissioner, Food & Drug Administration, Maharashtra Govt. to the effect that the imported substance was of high purity of about 99 to 100% had also been produced. The certificate also stated that the goods Dynazide Tablets manufactured by the appellants were marketed as a tuberculostatic drug.
This medicine also figures in the Schedule to The Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 1979.
7. Having regard to the aforesaid circumstances, there is little doubt that the imported substance conformed to pharmacopoeial standards.
Otherwise, it would not have been certified as conforming to standards by the two laboratories to whom references were made by the Assistant Drugs Controller, Bombay Customs and the Food and Drugs Administration, Maharashtra Government would also not have issued the certificates which they had issued. These circumstances, together with the fact that Morphazinamide is shown in the Schedule to the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, constitute, in our opinion, sufficient evidence to show that the imported substance conformed to pharmacopoeial standards.
8. In the circumstances, we set aside the impugned orders and allow these appeals with consequential relief to the appellants.