Judgement

SARKAR, J. - By a notification dated March 16, 1953, the Government of India, gave general permission to all persons to import into India from certain countries any goods of any of the description specified in the schedule annexed to the notification. Among the goods specified in the Schedule were the following:

Iron and steel chains of all sorts assessable under Item 63 (28), Indian Customs Tariff, excluding chains for automobiles and cycles whether cut to length or in rolls.

2. The petitioner is an importer of goods. He states that relying on the notification mentioned above he placed an order with a company in Japan sometime in August, 1953, for the supply of certain goods called in the trade, Zip Chains. The goods arrived in the port of Calcutta in due course and the petitioner s bank paid the price of the goods amounting to Rs. 11,051-4-0.

Before the goods could be cleared from the port of Calcutta, the petitioner received a communication from the Assistant Collector of Customs for Appraisement, Calcutta, dated November 19, 1953, in which it was stated that it had been found that the petitioner did not possess valid import licence for the goods and requiring him to show