Civil Appeal 1277 of 1968
Appeal by special leave from the order No 2674 of 1967 of the Ministry of Finance Government of India Hardev Singh Ishwar Chand Jain and R section Sodhi for the Appellant
section N Prasad and section P Nayar for respondents
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by BHAGWATI J
This appeal by special leave raises a short question as to what is the correct amount of import duty chargeable on pot motors when imported separately from Rayon Spinning frames do they fall within Item 723 or Item 7321 of the First Schedule to the Indian Customs Tariff The facts giving rise to the appeal are few and may be briefly stated as follows Some time in 1956 a licence for setting up a plant for manufacture of Rayon was granted to one Kesoram Industries  Cotton Mills Ltd under the Industries Development and Regulation Act 1951
Since the machinery and equipment required for setting up the plant were not available in India Kesoram Industries and Cotton Mills Ltd applied for an import licence and on the basis of this application import licence was granted to them for importing complete continuous filament Rayon plant with spares and accessories of the CIF value of Rs 550 crores from general currency area excluding South Africa
491 It appears that Kesoram Industries  Cotton Mills Ltd imported on the strength of this import licence Rayon Spinning frames excluding pot motors from Japan but so far as pot motors were concerned they authorised the appellants to import from Germany 4000 of these motors for initial installation of the Spinning frames
Pursuant to the authority so given the appellants placed orders for 4000 pot motors with manufacturers in Germany and imported the same in seven different consignments under the Import licence of Kesoram Industries  Cotton Mills Ltd These seven consignments arrived at Calcutta port between September and December 1961
The appellants claimed before the Customs authorities at the time of assessment of import duty on these seven consignments that pot motors imported by them fall within Item 723 of the First Schedule to the Indian Customs Tariff and were chargeable to import duty under that item at the rate of 15 percent of their accepted value
This claim was accepted by the Customs authorities and these seven consignments were allowed to be cleared on payment of import duty under Item 723
However within a short time thereafter the Assistant Collector of Customs issued seven separate notices of demand in respect of these seven consignments claiming that customs duty at the rate of 15 per cent had been short levied because pot motors were assessable at the rate of 20 per cent and requiring the appellants to pay up the difference within 15 days from the date of demand under section 39 of the 
The appellants sent representations against these notices pointing out that and we are quoting here from the representation dated 8th December 1961 which is These pot motors are vital component part of the Rayon Spinning machines already imported and are not in excess of the quantity required for the first installation of the said plant
The pot motors are required for 24 Spinning frames having 2 sides each
On each side of these frames 66 motors are connected
Hence total initial requirement of pot motors for running 24 frames is 3168
In view of general experience with this type of plant approximately 25 additional motors are required for trial runs and commissioning 4000 Nos
Of not motors should there fore be supplied for first installation of the Rayon plant
These pot motors are of very high speed and are specially designed for use in spinning frames for manufacturing rayon thread
They run at 7700 RPM and are designed for a rated voltage of 130 V at 130 cycles per second for use in circuits of less than 10 amps
As such these motors can in no circumstances be used for any other purpose excepting as stated above
The accessories of these motors are specially designed to suit particular size of spinning pots as well as spinning chambers
The smooth running of these motors is achieved after a great research by using flexible elastic and hollow shaft special rubber bushings for support as well as specially designed bearings to take care of severe stresses 492 which are normally encountered by these motors during operation
Hence it is inevitable that any deviation in the design of the above component parts would mean defeating the purpose for which these motors are meant
In view of the above these motors cannot be classified other than an integral part of the Rayon Spinning plant
We therefore claimed as assessment of duty under proviso 723 at the time of clearing
 The appellants did not receive any reply from the Assistant Collector in regard to these representations for a period of about three years and hence they thought that their representations had been accepted and the demand for differential duty had been dropped
This however turned out to be a vain hope for seven communications dated 19th January 1965 were received by the appellants from the Assistant Collector stating that the demand for differential duty in respect of each of the seven consignments was confirmed and would be enforced in due course if the differential duty was not paid by the appellants
Each of those seven communications contained an intimation that an appeal against this decision lies to the Appellate Collector within three months hereof
The appellants however did not prefer an appeal to the Collector and instead tried to persuade the Assistant Collector to change his opinion by pointing out the relevant facts
It appears that in the meantime the Assistant Collector recovered the aggregate amount of the differential duty from the deposit account of the appellants
The appellants once again made a representation to the Assistant Collector and requested him to refund the amount of differential duty collected by him but the representation did not meet with any favourable response from the Assistant Collector
The appellants ultimately filed a representation to the Collector on 15th July 1965 setting out their case in regard to the assessment of customs duty and pointing out that the original assessment of customs duty made under Item 723 was correct and that the differential duty had been wrongly recovered from them
This representation was treated by the Collector as a revision application against the orders of the Assistant Collector and on this application the Collector made an order which was conveyed to the appellants by the Assistant Collector by his letter dated 23rd December 1965
The Assistant Collector pointed out that the Collector had  examined the merits of the case in question and it is his consideration that the duty was correctly chargeable because the Spinning Machinery excluding the pot motors were being imported under one contract from Japan and the pot motors were being imported under another contract from Germany
Separate importation under a separate contract from a separate country would not justify treatment of the two consignments as one article when the goods are not specified 493 in the Tariff as one article
Therefore he does not see any reason to revise the Assistant Collector s order concerning the demands
 The appellants thereupon preferred a revision application to the Government of India but by a short and pithy order dated 23rd September 1967 the Government of India rejected the revision application stating that they had carefully considered the revision application B but saw no reason to interfere with the order passed by the Collector
This led to the filing of the present appeal against the order of the Government of India with special leave obtained from this Court
Though the appellants initially when the hearing of the appeal commenced raised two or three contentions against the validity of the order of the Government of India confirming the demand for differential duty they ultimately pressed only one contention and that related to the category in which the pot motors imported by the appellants fell
The Assistant Collector originally assessed these pot motors to customs duty at the rate of 15 per cent of their accepted value under Item 723 but later demanded differential duty from the appellants on the footing that these pot motors were really assessable at the rate of 20 per cent of their accepted value under Item 7321 D and this demand was confirmed by the Collector in revision and on further revision by the Government of India
The appellant disputed the correctness of these orders and contended that the original assessment made by the Assistant Collector was proper and the demand for differential duty was unjustified because the correct item under which those pot motors were assessable was Item 723 and not Item 7321
Item 723 as it stood at the material time was in the following terms 723 Component parts of machinery as defined in Item Nos 72 72  1  and 72 2 and not otherwise specified essential for the working of the machine or apparatus and have been given for that purpose some special shape or quality which would not be essential for their use for any other purpose but excluding small tools like twist drills and reamers dies and taps gear cutters and hacksaw blades provided that articles which do not satisfy this condition shall also be deemed to be component parts of the machine to which they belong if they are essential to its operation and are imported with it in such quantities as may appear to the Collector of Customs to
be reasonable while Item 7321 comprised Electric motors all sorts and parts thereof
 The competition was between these two Items and the question is which of them covered pot motors imported by the appellant
Now pot motors imported by the appellants were clearly component parts of Rayon Spinning machines and this was not and indeed could not be disputed on behalf of the respondents
Since Rayon Spinning machines were admittedly textile machinery as defined in Item 721 these pot motors were covered by the opening part of 494 Item 723 namely component parts of machinery as defined in Item Nos
72  1  
Moreover these pot motors were clearly and indubitably essential for the working of the Rayon Spinning machines and as pointed out by the appellants in their representation dated 8th December 1961 they were specially designed for use in spinning frames for manufacturing rayon thread and for the purpose they were given special shape and quality which was not only not essential for their use for any other purpose but actually rendered them incapable of being used for any other purpose
This position as pointed out by the appellants in their representation dated 8th December 1961 was not disputed either by the Assistant Collector in his communication dated 19th January 1965 or by the Collector in his order dated 23rd December 1965 rejecting the representation of the appellants and the Government of India also did not controvert this position in its order dated 23rd September 1967
If the Assistant Collector or the Collector or the Government of India did not accept the facts set out in the representation of the appellants dated 8th December 1961 we should have expected a clear statement to that effect in the orders of these authorities
The Assistant Collector maintained sphinx like silence and preferred not to give any reasons for confirming the demand for differential duty
The Collector was a little less reticent
He briefly gave a reason for confirming the orders of the Assistant Collector but that reason had nothing to do with the nature quality or condition of the pot motors
What it said was this namely that the pot motors were imported under a separate contract from Germany while the Spinning machinery excluding pot motors were imported from Japan and that did not justify the treatment of two consignments as one article
 The Government of India also did not articulate its reasons while rejecting the revision application of the appellants but since it confirmed the order of the Collector we may presume that the same reason which prevailed with the Collector appealed to the Government of India
It will therefore be seen that at no stage was the factual position in regard to The pot motors as set out in the representation of the appellants dated 8th December 1971 disputed by the Assistant Collector of Customs or the Collector or the Government of India
The pot motors therefore clearly fell within the description given in Item 723 The respondents however leaned heavily on the words not otherwise specified in item 723 and contended that even if the pot motors were component parts of Rayon Spinning machines they were not covered by Item 723 since they were otherwise specified in item 7321
The argument of the respondents was that if any component parts of machinery were specifically dealt with in any other item they would go out of Item 723 and since pot motors were electric motors within Item 7321 they were not covered by Item 723
This argument is clearly unsustainable
It seeks to read the words not otherwise specified as qualifying component parts but that is plainly incorrect as a matter of both grammar and language
Structurally the conjunction and  joins the two clauses as defined in Item Nos 72 721 and 722 and not otherwise specified and since the former qualifies machinery  the latter also must be read as 495 doing the same duty
What Item 723 contemplates are component parts of that machinery which is defined in Item Nos 72 721 and 722 and which is not otherwise specified
The words not otherwise specified  do not qualify component parts they qualify machinery 
Otherwise the conjunction and  would have no meaning
In fact the sentence would become ungrammatical if the words not otherwise specified were read to govern component parts
This construction also receives support from the description of the component parts which follows the words not otherwise specified 
This description starts with the word namely  which shows that it is intended to be a complete description of the component parts covered by this item and that would not contextually fit in with component parts not otherwise specified
There can be no doubt that on a plain grammatical construction the words not otherwise specified qualify machinery and not component parts and there fore the pot motors imported by the appellants which satisfied the other requirements of Item 723 could not be held to fall outside that Item because they were otherwise specified in Item 7321
Item 723 is a specific Item which covers these pot motors as against Item 7321which is a general item and hence it must be held that these pot motors were assessable under Item 723 and not under Item 7321
The original assessment of these pot motors made by the Assistant Collector was in the circumstances correct and the subsequent demand of differential duty made by the Assistant Collector and confirmed by the Collector in revision and by the Government of India on further revision was unjustified
The orders made by the Assistant Collector the Collector and the Government of India confirming the demand for differential duty would therefore have to be quashed and set aside and the amount of differential duty recovered from the appellants pursuant to these orders would have to be refunded to the appellants
Before we part with this appeal we must express our regret at the manner in which the Assistant Collector the Collector and the Government of India disposed of the proceedings before them
It is incontrovertible that the proceedings before the Assistant Collector arising from the notices demanding differential duty were quasi judicial proceedings and so also were the proceedings in revision before the Collector and the Government of India
Indeed this was not disputed by the learned counsel appearing on behalf of the respondents
It is now settled law that where an authority makes an order in exercise of a quasi judicial function it must record its reasons in support of the order it makes
Every quasi judicial order must be supported by reasons
That has been laid down by a long line of decisions of this Court ending with N M Desai vs The Testeels Ltd  Anr
  But unfortunately the Assistant Collector did not choose to give any reasons in support of the order made by him con firming the demand for differential duty
This was in plain disregard of the requirement of law
The Collector in revision did give some sort of reason but it was hardly satisfactory
He did not deal in his order with the arguments advanced by the appellants in their representa 1 C A245 of 1970 decided on 17th December
496 tion dated 8th December 1961 which were repeated in the subsequent representation dated 4th June 1965
It is not suggested that the Collector should have made an elaborate order discussing the arguments of the appellants in the manner of a court of law
But the order of the Collector could have been a little more explicit and articulate so as to lend assurance that the case of the appellants has been properly considered by him
If courts of law are to be replaced by administrative authorities and tribunals as indeed in some kinds of cases with the proliferation of Administrative law they may have to be so replaced it is essential that administrative authorities and tribunals should accord fair and proper hearing to the persons sought to be affected by their orders and give sufficiently clear and explicit reasons in support of the orders made by them
Then alone administrative authorities and tribunals exercising quasi judicial function will be able to justify their existence and carry credibility with the people by inspiring confidence in the adjudicatory process
The rule requiring reasons to be given in support of an order is like the principle of audi alteram partem a basic principle of natural justice which must inform every quasi judicial process and this rule must be observed in its proper spirit and mere pretence of compliance with it would not satisfy the requirement of law
The Government of India also failed to give any reasons in support or its order rejecting the revision application
But we may presume that in rejecting the revision application it adopted the same reason which prevailed with the Collector
The reason given by the Collector was as already pointed out hardly satisfactory and it would therefore have been better if the Government of India had given proper and adequate reasons dealing with the arguments advanced on behalf of the appellants while rejecting the revision application
We hope and trust that in future the Customs authorities will be more careful in adjudicating upon the proceedings which come before them and pass properly reasoned orders so that those who are affected by such orders are assured that their case has received proper consideration at the hands of the Customs authorities and the validity of the adjudication made by the Customs authorities can also be satisfactorily tested in a superior tribunal or court
In fact it would be desirable that in cases arising under Customs and Excise laws an independent quasi judicial tribunal like the Income tax Appellate Tribunal or the Foreign Exchange Regulation Appellate Board is set up which would finally dispose of appeals and revision applications under these laws instead of leaving the determination of such appeals and revision applications to the Government of India
An independent quasi judicial tribunal would definitely inspire greater confidence in the public mind
We accordingly allow the appeal set aside the orders passed by the Assistant Collector the Collector and the Government of India demanding differential duty from the appellants and direct the Government of India to refund to the appellants the amount of differential duty recovered from the appellants in respect of the seven consignments of 4000 pot motors imported by them
The respondent will pay the costs of the appeal to the appellant
PBR Appeal allowed


Summary:
Under item 723 of the First Schedule to the Indian Customs Tariff component parts of machinery as defined in item nos
72 721 and 722 aand not otherwise specified are chargeable to customs duty
Item 7321 comprises of electric motors all sorts and parts thereof
On the strength of a licence for importing complete continuous filament Rayon Plant with spares and accessories certain spinning frames excluding pot motors were imported from Japan but not motors were imported from Germany by the appellants
The customs authorities accepted the claim of the appellants that the consignment of pot motors fell within item 723 and charged import duty accordingly
Sometime later the Assistant Collector of Customs claiming that customs duty on pot motors was short levied as they fell within item 7321 called upon the appellants to pay the difference against which the appellants made a representation to the Assistant Collector
But the Assistant Collector held against the appellants without giving any reasons
The appellants thereafter filed a representation to the Collector but he held that since the spinning frames and the pot motors were imported under separate contracts from separate countries the two consignments could not be treated as one article and hence rejected the representation
The appellants thereupon applied to the Government of India in revision but the revision application was also rejected
Allowing the appeal to this Court
 HELD 1 i Item 723 is a specific item covering pot motors as against item 7321 which is a general item
Pot motors were therefore assessable under the former and not under the latter
The original assessment of the Assistant Collector was correct and the subsequent demand of differential duty which was confirmed by the Collector and the Government of India was unjustified ii Pot motors fell within the description given in item 723
They were specially designed for use in spinning machines for manufacturing rayon thread
and they were indubitably essential for the working of the rayon spinning machines and were incapable of being used for any other purpose
They were therefore clearly component parts of the rayon spinning machines
495 D 494A 2  The argument of the respondents that if any component parts of machinery were specifically dealt with in any other item they would go out of item 723 and since pot motors were electric motors within item 7221 they were not covered by item 723 was clearly unsustainable
As a matter of both grammar and language the words not otherwise specified cannot be read as qualifying component parts
They qualify machinery
Otherwise the conjunction and would have no meaning
The sentence would become ungrammatical if the words not otherwise specified were read to govern component parts
The description of the component parts which follows the words not otherwise specified starts with the words namely which shows that it is intended to be a complete description of the component parts covered 490 by this item and that would also not actually fit in with component parts not otherwise specified
Therefore pot motors could not be held to fall outside that item because they were otherwise specified in item 7321
494H 3a Where an authority makes an order in exercise of a quasi judicial function it must record its reasons in support of the order it makes
Every quasi judicial order must be supported by reasons
495G M M Desai vs The Testeels Ltd  Anr
CA 245 of 1976 decided on 17th Dec 1975 referred to
b If courts of law were to be replaced by administrative authorities and tribunals and with the proliferation of administrative law they may have to be so replaced it is essential that administrative authorities and tribunals should accord fair and proper hearing to the persons sought to be affected by their orders and give sufficiently clear and explicit reasons in support of the orders made by them
The rule requiring reasons to be given in support of an order is like the principal of audi alteram partem a basic principle of natural justice which must inform every quasi judicial process and this rule must be observed in its proper spirit and mere pretence of compliance with it would not satisfy the requirement of law
496B D In the instant case the Assistant Collector did not give any reasons in support of his order which was in plain disregard of the requirement of law
The reason given by the Collector was hardly satisfactory
His order could have been a little more explicit and articulate so as to lend assurance that the case had been properly considered by him
The Government of India too failed to give any reasons in support of its order rejecting the revision application
496 H The Court expressed the view that it would be desirable that in cases arising under customs and excise laws an independent quasi judicial tribunal is set up which would finally dispose of the appeals and revision applications under these laws instead of leaving the determination of such appeals to the Government of India
An independent quasi judicial tribunal would inspire greater confidence in the public mind 496F