( 1 ) THE Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), delhi by an interim order, impugned in this writ petition, passed under Section 129-E of the Customs Act, 1962 directed the petitioner to pre-deposit a sum of Rs. 5 crores, while waiving the remainder of the duty amount held recoverable from it. Dissatisfied with the said order, the petitioner has filed the present writ petition and prayed for a complete waiver of the pre-deposit.

( 2 ) THE petitioner company is a subsidiary of M/s. Cisco Systems Management B. V. (Netherlands), which in turn, is a subsidiary of M/s. Cisco Inc. , USA. The latter of the two companies has entered into agreements with the petitioner for supply of equipment broadly classified into the following four different categories : a)import of equipment for use in the STP unit; b)import of equipment for internal use; c)import of demonstration equipment on loan/ returnable basis; and d)import of spare parts for supply to the customers of cisco Inc. to support replacements of failed parts of original equipment supplied by Cisco Inc.

( 3 ) ACCORDING to the petitioner, the prices of the imported goods are determined on the basis of a reference price list o