K. Prakash Anand, Member (T)

1. Briefly, the facts are that appellants claimed refund of duty on reimport of three consignments of goods of Indian origin, which had been exported for execution of a project in Iraq. The goods, however, arrived after the expiry of 3 years' time limit as provided under Section 20 of the Customs Act, 1962. In view of the special circumstances, the Government of India granted an ad hoc exemption on 23-2-1985 in respect of the goods, the date of import of which was 17-7-1984. This exemption was granted in exercise of powers conferred by Sub-section (2) of Section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 read with Sub-section (4) of Section 36 of the Finance Act, 1984. The exemption was granted subject to the condition that the Collector of Customs, Bombay was satisfied that the conditions of duty free import of Indian origin materials/equipment/machinery in question under Section 20 (a) (d) of the Customs Act were fulfilled in all respect except for the period of re-import not being within 3 years from the date of their export, that the re-imported goods were covered by a valid ITC licence/CCP, that no drawback or export assistance of any kind had been enjoyed on