JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-This appeal is directed against the order of the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal, (the tribunal ), West Regional Bench, Mumbai dated 15th July, 1999 made in Appeal No.C/366/94A.

2. The appellant which is an approved unit situated in the Kandla Free Trade Zonc (KFTZ) was authorised to manufacture one lakh ton of Cold Rolled Closed Annealed (CRCA) and Tin Mill Black Plate (TMBP) Coils per year under a licence issued by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India on 30.3.1981. The said Ministry by a letter dated 2.7.1982 approved the proposal of the appellant for import into the KFTZ of second-hand machinery for the purpose of the manufacture of the CRCA and TMBP under certain conditions which included that the imported machineries should not be over 10 years old and it should have a residual life of at least 5 years. Bases on the said permission, the appellant imported between the period 1983 and 1987 second hand machineries as capital goods for which they had filed as many as 17 Bills of Entry and claimed the benefit of Notification No. 77/90-Cus. dated 17.4.1980. On 7.2.1992, the Customs Authorities issued a show-cause notice