JUDGMENT

[WP(C) Nos.15946/2011, 7381/2012, 11115/2012, 17829/2011, 20978/2011, 28040/2011, 28212/2011, 28220/2011, 29872/2011]

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In all these cases, the issue involved is regarding the refund of additional customs duty paid for the import of timber from Myanmar and other foreign countries. The centre of controversy is the conversion factor to be applied for converting the Hoppus Ton, which is the traditional unit of volume applied in Myanmar for the measurement of logs, to the metric system followed in India i.e, the cubic meter. The petitioners have imported the goods by declaring the conversion factor by treating it as one 1 Hoppus ton is equal to 1.416 cubic meters, whereas, the conversion factor applied by the Department was 1 Hoppus ton is equal to 1.8027 cubic meters.

2. In all these cases, the petitioners have imported goods from Myanmar and in the documents furnished by the petitioners for the purpose of customs duty, the quantity was declared in terms of the conversion factor calculated @ 1 Hoppus ton is equal to 1.416 cubic meters. Later, when the petitioners have sought for refund of the additional customs duty paid by them in the light of the Notification No.102/2007 Cus