Per Shri Jain :

Learned Consultant, Shri A. Halder submits that the only controversy in this case is whether the amount of Insurance shown in the Insurance document given by the Insurance Company and available at the time of clearance of the goods is to be taken into account for determining the value of the imported goods or is it the actual amount of Insurance which has been charged by the Insurance Company? He submits that a lesser amount of premium was actually charged by the Insurance Company which is to the tune of Rs. 43,912.09. This is as per the document of Insurance Company dated 23.3.90. The Customs Authorities, however, took the Insurance premium of Rs. 67,239.06 on the basis of Insurance Company's Certificate dated 21.1.90. The appellants, therefore, filed a Refund Claim for the duty leviable on the differential amount of Insurance Premium included in excess in determining the assessable value.

2. Lower Authorities have denied the Refund Claim on the authority of Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962 which is for better appreciation reproduced below :-

"149. Amendment of documents. - Save as otherwise provided in Secs. 30 and 41, the proper officer may, in his discretion, authorise any document, after it has been presented in the customs house to be amended:

Provided that no amendment of bill of entry or a shipping bill or bill of export shall be so authorized to be amended after the imported goods have been cleared for home consumption or deposited in a warehouse, or the export goods have been exported, except on the basis of documentary evidence which was in existence at the time the goods were cleared, deposited or exported, as the case may be."

3. Learned Consultant, Shri Halder submits that the said provisions of Section 149 would not be applicable in the facts and circumstances. It is a simple case of error in calculation in premium which has been rectified by the Insurance Authorities subsequently, no doubt, after the clearance of the goods. If Section 149 is made applicable, then he submits that no case of refund can at all be granted to any assessee/importer and similarly, no case of demand can be made by the Customs Authorities against an importer/assessee, if any subsequent document comes to their knowledge. He submits that Section 27 is an independent Section and therefore, the Refund Claim has to be looked into only from an angle of those provisions.

4. Opposing the contentions, learned S.D.R., Shri T. Prem Kumar for the Revenue reiterates the findings of the lower authorities.

5. We have carefully considered the submissions of both sides. We are inclined to agree with the submissions of learned Consultant, Shri A. Halder. The purpose of the provisions of Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962 is different and it is not applicable in the present facts and circumstances of the case in as much as they are not seeking any amendment to any entry in the bill of entry filed by them and they are only trying to prove that the Insurance Premium paid by them is not actually what has been taken by the Customs Authorities and this is duly supported by the calculations made by the Insurance Company. Therefore, this payment of Insurance Premium has to be related back to the date of importation of the consignment. We are, therefore, of the view that relevance of Section 149 is not comprehensible in the present facts and circumstances of the case. Consequently, the impugned Order is set aside. We direct the Customs Authorities to go into the document to verify the actual amount of Insurance paid and then allow the refund, if any, subject, of course, to the present provisions of Section 27 of the Customs Act, 1962 as amended in 1991. The appeal is thus allowed by way of remand.