Judgment

S.RANGANATHAN, J.

(1) ON 28/11/1981, the appellant company applied for a licence to import, inter alia, components of plain paper copiers, the manufacture of which was to be started by them shortly under the agreement of technical collaboration with the Nashua Corporation, USA. The CIF value of the licence applied for was as follows :

Item

Value

Value

Rs (in millions)

Rs (in crores)

(i)

Components

28.800

2.8800

(ii)

Accessories

1.007

0.1007

(iii)

Consumables

14.172

1.4172

Rs 43.979

Rs 4.3979

The details of the components to be imported were set out in an Annx. to the application divided into 12 groups. The one item around which the controversy mainly centres is Serial No. 12. The component was described as "copier frame" in the group "Main Motor Assembly, Magnetic Clutch Assembly, Control Unit, Power Source Section". 1500 numbers of this component valued at Rs. 1,27,42,368.00 (1.27 crores) were sought to be imported. The government granted a licence on 30/09/1982 for import of items valued at Rs. 3.73 crores, the Annx. to which classified the item described above thus :

S. No.

Component Group

17

Main Motor

18

Magnetic Clutch

19

Power Board Section

24

C