Harish Chander, Member (J)

1. M/s. Janta Traders, 59/67, Mirza Street, Bombay-400 003, have filed an appeal being aggrieved from Order No. 418/1982, dated 23rd September, 1982 passed by the Central Board of Excise and Customs, New Delhi.

2 Briefly the facts of the case are that M/s. Janta Traders had imported five consignments of YKK Brand Zip Fasteners from Hongkong in 121 cases. M/s. Azad Shipping Agency, CHA No. 11/234, presented Bills of Entry IGM No. 1629 and Item Nos. 107 to 111 for clearance of the aforesaid consignments. The appellant had presented invoice Nos. 1928/81 to 1932/81, all dated 11-10-1981 issued by Japan Trading Company, Hongkong, the shippers of the consignments. The invoices show the description of the goods as "YKK Brand Plastic Zippers, Size No. 5" and country of origin as Hongkong. The invoices showed that the price charged varied according to the size of the material and there was in all 24 different sizes. The invoices further showed that shippers had shown separate unit price for each size. The total declared CIF value for the five consignments was Rs. 4,49,011/- The appellants had also filed five separate certificates of origin in respect of the five consignments issued by the Indian Chamber of Commerce, Hongkong. These certificates showed that the goods were of Japanese origin manufactured by M/s. Yoshida Kogyo K.K., Japan and not of Hong Kong origin as declared in the respective bills of entry. The Revenue authorities had inspected these Zip Fasteners and on inspection it was found that the same were of. types "Vision-VFO-56" which, as per the index of M/s. YKK, Japan, stands for No. 5 Vision Plastic injected Zippers open and automatic lock slider. The Central Intelligence Unit of the Bombay Customs conducted certain enquiries in respect of the value declared for the goods and searched the premises of M/s. Janta Traders, Bombay and seized certain documents relating to import of Zip Fastners as per Panchanama dated 25-1-1982. During the course of interrogation statement of three persons, viz., S/Shri B.K. Handa, C.J. Pinto and Adarsh Veer Jain were recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962. Shri B.K. Handa of M/s. S.B. Vijay Laxmi Corporation, Bombay was the local Indenting Agent for M/s. Y.K.K. Zippers (S) PTE Ltd., Singapore and Shri C.J. Pinto is the proprietor of M/s. Crispin Agencies, Bombay, who are the local Indenting Agents representing M/s. Y.K.K. Japan. Shri Handa stated that his firm booked indents for the supply of YKK Brand Zip Fasteners from their principals as per the price list dated 1-6-1980. Similarly Shri Pinto deposed that he booked indents for the supply of similar goods from his principals M/s. YKK Japan on the basis of the price list dated 1-5-1980. Both of them produced copies of the respective price lists. After scrutiny of the two price lists the revenue authorities were of the view that the goods were priced exactly at the same rate for Indian market in respect of all types including type "VFO-56", irrespective of the supply coming from Singapore or Japan. The Revenue authorities on further investigations noticed that two consignments imported by M/s. Babson and Company, Bombay of the same goods from M/s. YKK Zippers (S) PTE Ltd., Singapore, during the same period had been invoiced on the basis of the price list dated 1-6-1980 produced by Shri Handa. The details of the invoices were furnished in the Show Cause Notice. The Customs authorities had also noticed other imports, as detailed in the show cause notice imported from Japan which had been invoiced on the basis of the price list dated 1-5-1980. A scrutiny of the price list of M/s. YKK Japan as well as Singapore showed that there were various types of Zip Fasteners such as VCO 56, VFO 56, VFO 46 etc. The prices were different for the different types. Among the documents seized from the premises of the importers was a telex dated 18-6-1981 in which Shri Adarsh Veer Jain had asked Mr. Chand of M/s. Japan T