( 1 ) PETITIONER no. 2, a shareholder of petitioner No. 1 Company, known as "m/s. Hindustan Coal Movers Private Limited", a Company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, having its registered office at Jamnagar, has filed this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, raising a grievance about illegal assessment of value of the consignment of metallurgical coke imported by the petitioner no. 1 - Company.

( 2 ) SHORT facts, which are relevant to decide this petition, are as under.

( 3 ) THE petitioners imported metallurgical coke (hereinafter referred to as "the Coke") in October, 1999. The Bill of Entry indicated the price at US$ 92 per Metric Tonne. It appears that the Revenue was of the opinion that the assessee has not properly valued the goods. In the opinion of the Revenue, value of the Coke should be US$ 65 per Metric Tonne. The petitioner being in urgent need of the Coke, furnished bank guarantee and the goods were cleared. The second consignment arrived at Okha port in January, 2000. The Revenue sticked to the earlier opinion and as the goods were not cleared, the present petition came to be filed.

( 4 ) DURING the hearing of the matter, exparte order was passed, however, lateron Union of India placed an order passed by the Central Excise and Gold Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi ( hereinafter to be referred to as "cegat") in appeal nos. C/692 to 697/98-AD and considering submission on that basis, the Court, modified the order. On behalf of the Revenue, relying on the aforesaid order, submissions were made before the Court. It was stated that anti-dumping duty will be levied as per the decision rendered by the CEGAT as referred in para 12 of its judgment. The Division Bench expressed an opinion at that stage that the petition is not required to be entertained. The Bench made it clear that in case of difficulty, either side can move the Court by filing an appropriate application. It was stated on behalf of the Union of India that the anti-dumping duty will be charged as per the decision of the Tribunal and necessary instructions will be issued accordingly. It was also stated that if the decision is challenged further, the parties will have to abide by the decision. After passing the aforesaid order of 28th January, 2000, an application was submitted to revive the petition, which was ultimately granted. The Division Bench heard the matter on 6. 3. 2000 and issued a rule. By way of ad-interim relief, the Court directed the respondent authorities to assess the Bills of Entry at Annexure B to the petition on the basis of the duty imposed by notification under Rule 18 of the Customs Tariff (Anti-dumping Duty on Dumped Articles) Rules, 1995. as may be applicable to such bills. It appears that thereafter Civil Application No. 2957/2000 was preferred. The assessing authority was required to consider the question of release of portion of the goods on the basis of the payment of Anti-dumping duty which may be provisionally fixed under the Customs Act. The Court observed that this will be done without reference to the amount of the customs duty paid on the basis of the valuation declared by the applicant. The Court also observed that the provisional assessment for the purpose of anti-dumping duty will be made as agreed at the value of US$ 65 per Metric Tonne.

( 5 ) THE parties have placed on record affidavits and other documents on which reliance is placed.

( 6 ) ON behalf of the petitioners, it is submitted that the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Jamnagar, on 4. 2. 99 addressed a letter to the Commissioner of Customs, Gujarat, Ahmedabad in the subject mater. The letter clearly reveals that earlier there were cases wherein several parties imported Coke, value of which as indicated was varying from US$ 87. 5 to US$ 93 per Metric Tonne. It was also mentioned in the letter that except M/s. Arihant Trade Limited, the bills of entry were assessed finally, whereas in the case of M/s. Ar