Case: M/S. Gammon India Ltd Vs. Commnr. Of Customs, Mumbai

The appellant namely, M/s Gammon India Ltd. (for shortand one M/s Atlanta Infrastructure Ltd., Mumbai, (for shortboth incorporated as Public Limited Companies, entered into a joint venture agreement on 18th September, 2000. The joint venture was named and styled asThe agreement was entered into for the purpose of submitting a bid to the National Highways Authority of India (for shortfor award of a contract for construction of 31.40 Kilometers of road on National Highway-5. The terms of the agreement, inter-alia, provided that: each of the said parties would share financial responsibilities in the form of guarantees, securities etc. to the extent of 50% of the project value; the venture would be managed by set- ting up of a management board consisting of a Chairman and one Director to be nominated by Gammon and a Joint Chairman and another Director to be nominated by Atlanta. Although Gammon was to be designated as the lead partner to the venture but both the companies were to be jointly and severally liable to NHAI for due execution of the contract.3. The bid tendered by the said joint venture was accepted by NHAI and an agreement dated 20th December, 2000 was executed between NHAI, referred to as theon the one part and M/s Gammon-Atlanta JV, referred to as theon the other part. On behalf of Gammon-Atlanta JV, the agreement was signed by the representatives of both the companies, i.e. Gammon and Atlanta.4. On 1st March, 2001, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 25 of the Act, the Central Government, issued the afore-noted Exemption Notification, inter alia, exempting the goods of the description specified in Column (3) of the Table given thereunder, read with the relevant List appended thereto and falling within the Chapter, Heading no. or sub-heading no. of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, as specified in the corresponding entry in Column (2) of the said Table. Serial No. 217 of the said Table granted full exemption from basic Customs duty and additional Customs duty, on the goods falling under Chapter 84 specified in List 11, required for construction of roads. However, the said exemption was subject to certain conditions, enumerated in the said notification. Condition No. 38, relevant for this case, reads asIf,-(a) the goods are imported by-(i) the ministry of Surface Transport, or(ii) a person who has been awarded a contract for the construction of roads in India by or on behalf of the Ministry of Surface Transport, by the National Highway Authority of India, by the Public Works Department of a State Government or by a road construction corporation under the control of the Government of a State or Union Territory; or(iii) a person who has been named as a sub-con- tractor in the contract referred to in (ii) above for the construction of roads in India by or on behalf of the Ministry of Surface Transport, by the National Highway Authority of India, by Public Works Department of a State Government or by a road construction corporation under the control of the Government of a State or Union Territory;(b) the importer, at the time of importation, furnishes an undertaking to the Deputy Commissioner of Customs or the Assistant Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, to the effect that he shall use the imported goods exclusively for the construction of roads and that he shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the said goods, in any manner, for a period of five years from the date of their importation; and(c) in case of goods of serial nos. 12 and 13 of List 11, the importer, at the time of importation of such goods, also produces to the Deputy Commissioner of Customs or the Assistant Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, a certificate from an officer not below the rank of a Deputy Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Surface Transport (Roads Wing), to the effect that the imported goods are required for construction of roads in India.It appears that the appellant approached NHAI for issue of the certificate, as contemplated in para (c) of Condition no.38, for import of one `Concrete batching plant 56 cum/hr covered under Item No. 13 of List 11, referred to at Serial No. 217 in the said Exemption Notification. Vide letter dated 3rd August, 2001 NHAI forwarded a Certificate, issued by the Deputy Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, addressed to the Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai, certifying that the said equipment was required for construction of roads and recommending its duty free import.6. Equipped with the said certificate, Gammon, the appellant herein, imported the specified Concrete Batching Plant from Germany and filed Bill of Entry (for home consumption) for its clearance at `nil rate of duty under Notification No.17/2001-cus, dated 1st March, 2001. The Deputy Commissioner of Customs, by his order dated 5th October, 2001 rejected the claim of the appellant for exemption from payment of Customs duty on the ground that the appellant had failed to comply with the conditions stipulated at Serial No. 38 appended to the exemption notification. According to the Adjudicating Authority, as per the said condition, the exemption is available only if the goods are imported byperson who has been awarded theby NHAI for construction of roads in India by or on behalf of Ministry of Surface Transport, but in the present case the goods have been imported by Gammon to whom no contract had been awarded by the authorities specified in the notification. Admittedly, the contract had been awarded in the name of joint venture - M/s Gammon-Atlanta JV. Thus, the adjudicating authority came to the conclusion that the appellant was not entitled to the benefit of exemption notification in their capacity as a partner in the joint venture, to whom the contract had been awarded.7. Aggrieved thereby the appellant preferred an appeal to the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals). The Commissioner (Appeals) was of the view that Gammon having been nominated as the lead partner in the joint venture for due performance of the contract awarded by NHAI, with authority to incur liabilities and to receive instructions for and on behalf of the joint venture, and the machine having been imported on behalf of the joint venture for the purpose of road construction, the benefit of the said exemption notification could not be denied to the appellant. Inter-alia, observing that the appellant was not an outsider and perhaps due to some technical reasons the machine had been imported in the name of the appellant, the Commissioner held that outright denial of the benefit of the said notification was not war- ranted. Accordingly, he allowed the appeal.8. Being dissatisfied with the decision of the Commissioner (Appeals), the revenue carried the matter in further appeal to the Tribunal. As aforestated, by the impugned order the Tribunal has allowed the said appeal. Distinguishing the case of New Horizons Limited & Anr. Vs. Union of India & Ors. ((1995) 1 SCC 478 ), relied on behalf of the importer, the Tribunal has come to the conclusion that the benefit of Exemption Notification cannot be availed of by a joint venture because it is nothing more than an association of two persons, having no identity in law. The Tribunal has gone on to observe that had such a bill of entry been filed even by a joint venture, the department would have been justified in rejecting it on the ground that the identity of the real importer was not known. Aggrieved, Gammon is before us in this appeal.

Court's reasoning:
Gammon was not entitled to avail of the benefit of the Exemption Notification as an independent entity. On the contrary, the Commissioner (Appeals) allowed the benefit of the Exemption Notification to the appellant on the ground that the Exemption Notification should be given a liberal interpretation and that the revenue should not try to take advantage of ignorance of law and procedure on the part of Gammon. It is the Tribunal which has dealt with the issue in detail by taking into consideration certain factual aspects pertaining to the import of machine like placement of the supply orders by Gammon and not by the joint venture and its payment by Gammon from its own account and not from the joint venture account provided for in the joint venture agreement. Rejecting the plea of the appellant that in light of the decision of this Court in New Horizons (supra) wherein it has been held that a joint venture is a le- gal entity in the nature of a partnership, the import of the machinery by Gammon is to be considered as having been done on behalf of the joint venture, the Tribunal has allowed revenues appeal.16. Since the stand of the appellant is that the issue arising in the present appeal stands concluded in their favour by the decision of this Court in New Horizons (supra) and a subsequent decision of this Court as also of the Tribunal, in which the said decision has been relied upon, it would be necessary to discern the ratio of the decision in NewGammon-Atlanta JV, the joint venture could be treated as a `legal entity, with the character of a partnership in which Gammon was one of the constituents. In that view of the matter, the next question for consideration is whether being a legal entity i.e. a juridical person, the joint venture is also afor the purpose of Condition No.38 of the Exemption Notification, stipulating that the goods should be imported byho had been awarded a contract for construction of goods in India byprinciple, the decision of this Court in Mangalore Chemicals-- and in Union of India v. Wood Papers referred to therein -- represents the correct view of law. The principle that in case of ambiguity, a taxing statute should be construed in favour of the assessee -- assuming that the said principle is good and sound -- does not apply to the construction of an exception or an exempting provision; they have to be construed strictly. A person invoking an exception or an exemption provision to relieve him of the tax liability must establish clearly that he is covered by the said provision. In case of doubt or ambiguity, benefit of it must go to the State. This is for the reason explained in Mangalore Chemicals and other decisions, viz., each such exception/exemption increases the tax burden on other members of the community correspondingly. Once, of course, the provision is found applicable to him, full effect must be given to it. As observed by a Constitution Bench of this Court in Hansraj Gordhandas v. H.H. Dave that such a notification has to be interpreted in the light of the words employed by it and not on any other basis. This was so held in the context of the principle that in a taxing statute, there is no room for any intendment, that regard must be had to the clear meaning of the words and that the matter should be governed wholly by the language of the notification, i.e., by the plain terms of thein the instant case the language of condition No.38 in the Exemption Notification is clear and unambiguous, there is no need to resort to the interpretative process in order to determine whether the said condition is to be imparted strict or liberal construction.