- (1.) Leave granted.
(2.) None appears for the respondent, though served. The appellant is a Public Charitable Trust registered with the Charity Commissioner. It runs full fledged Multi Speciality Hospital in Mumbai.
(3.) On 1st March, 1988, Government of India issued a Notification No 64 of 1988 exempting import of equipments by hospitals from payment of customs duty on fulfillment of conditions prescribed therein. We quote hereinbelow the said Notification: In exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-section (1) of Section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 (Act 52 of 1962), the Central Government, being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest to do so, hereby exempts all equipments, apparatus, and appliances, including spare parts and accessories thereof, but excluding consumable items (hereinafter referred to as the "hospital equipment"), the import of which is approved either generally or in each case by the Government of India in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, or by the Directorate General of Health Services to the Government of India, as essential for use in any hospital specified in the table below, from -- (i) the whole of duty of customs leviable thereon under the first schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975); and (ii) The whole of additional duty leviable thereon under Section 3 of the Customs Tariff Act. 2. In approving the import of any hospital equipment under paragraph 1, regard shall be had to the following factors namely: (i) that the hospital equipment in respect of which the exemption is claimed under this notification is not manufactured in India; and (ii) that the hospital equipment in respect of which the exemption is claimed is necessary for running or maintenance of the hospital. 3. Provided that in the case of import of spare parts, no approval as specified in paragraph 1 will be required subject to the conditions that (i) the spare parts are imported by the hospital; (ii) the hospital will, at the time of importation, produce a certificate from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare or the Directorate General of Health Services that the said hospital falls in one of the categories of hospitals specified in the said Table; (iii) the Head of the hospital certifies that the spare parts in question are required for the maintenance of an imported equipment in use with the hospital and such parts will not be used for any other purpose. TABLE 1. All such hospitals as may be certified by the said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, to be run or substantially aided by such charitable organization as may be approved, from time to time, by the said Ministry of health and Family Welfare. 2. All such hospitals which may be certified by the said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, in each case, to be run for providing medical, surgical or diagnostic treatment not only without any distinction of caste, creed, race, religion or language but also- (a) free, on an average, to at least 40 per cent of all their outdoor patients; and (b) free to all indoor patients belonging to families with an income of less than rupees five hundred per month and keeping for this purpose at least 10 per cent of all the hospital beds reserved for such patients; and (c) at reasonable charges, either on the basis of the income of the patients concerned or otherwise, to patients other than those specified in clauses (a) and (b). 3. Any such hospital in respect of which the said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, may, having regard to the type of medical, surgical or diagnostic treatment available there, or the geographical situation thereof, or the class of patients for whom the medical, surgical or diagnostic treatment is being provided, certify either generally or in each case, that the hospital, even though it makes a charge for the said treatment, is nevertheless run on non- profit basis and is deserving of exemption from the payment of duty on the said hospital equipment under this notification. Provided that the hospital equipment in respect of which the exemption is claimed, is imported by such hospital by way of free gift from donor abroad or has been purchased out of donations received abroad in foreign exchange: Provided further, that where the said hospital equipment has been purchased out of donations received abroad in foreign exchange, the hospital has been permitted to maintain an account abroad by the Reserve Bank of India for the purposes of receiving funds donated overseas.;