Goods supplied to ASTRA Project exempted from Customs duty
GOVERNMENT has exempted Machinery, equipment, instruments, components, spares, jigs and fixtures, dies, tools, accessories, computer software, raw materials and consumables required for the purpose of Air-to-Air Missile System (Project ASTRA) of the Ministry of Defence. Notification No 39/96 Cus dated 23.07.1996 has been amended accordingly.
This is not a new exemption. It was there since a long time renewed periodically with gaps as per the Board's loss of memory. As of now, the exemption was valid till 28.02.2013 and obviously the Board forgot to extend it and now they have extended it till 31 August 2013, but with effect from 25.03.2013. What about the period from 1.3.2013 to 24.3.2013? Was it not in public interest to exempt the goods during this period?
Please see -21.11.2012, for a similar mess when the exemption notification was last amended.
Notification No. , Dated: March 25, 2013