S. Venkatesan, Senior Vice-President

1. This appeal is against the order dated 21-8-82 (issued on 11/14-10-82) of the Additional Collector of Customs, Bombay in which he confiscated the consignment of steel bars imported by the appellants, subject to a fine of Rs, 1,00,000/- in lieu of confiscation. This was in consequence of having held that at the relevant time such goods were canalised and should have been imported through the concerned canalising agency, viz. SAIL and not directly by the importers as they had done.

2. Appearing before us for the appellants, Shri D.N. Mehta submitted that the appellants were manufacturers of engine valves from about 1965 onwards. For this purpose, they had to import alloy steel of a particular composition. They were regularly issued import licences for this purpose. The steel which they imported had chromium content of about 20.6% According to the 1S1 Specification for steel for valves for Internal Combustion Engines (IS : 7494 : 1981) the steel to be used had to contain 20 to 20% chromium

3. Action has been taken against the appellants on the ground that the steel imported by them was stainless steel. According to IS Standard Glossary of term