Per Shiben K. Dhar :

This Revenue Appeal is directed against the Orders dated 25.9.91 of the Collector of Customs (Appeals). The respondents imported excavators and cranes which had been used in Iraq for a project. They claimed concessional rate of duty under notification 220/90-Cus dated 26.7.90. This notification grants partial exemption to machinery and equipment on the condition that a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce certifies that the project for which the machinery was initially purchased has been cleared by the Working Group of the Export Import Bank of India established under Section 3 of the Export Import Bank of India Act, 1951, and a certificate issued by Chartered Engineer to the effect that the machinery has been used in the project for a period not less than 5 years. The Asstt. Collector denied benefit of exemption to excavators on the ground that after taking into account the date of invoice and the date of shipment there was hardly any time left for shipment and installation of the machinery and therefore, the certificate issued by the Chartered Engineer was suspect in regard to excavators. While Collector (Appeals) upheld this order in regard to exc