Anti dumping duty on Sodium Cyanide – a jinxed notification · TIOL-DDT 36

Anti dumping duty on Sodium Cyanide – a jinxed notification

By Vijay Kumar

However much we would like to congratulate the Board for rectifying its mistakes, we rarely get an opportunity and when the rare opportunity appears to come in, the Board manages another great blunder.

In DDT 22 on the last day of 2004, we had pointed out that Board was trying to amend a dead notification, four years after its death, by Notification No. 116/2004- cus. We had then suggested that

Fortunately the amendment does not cause any damage and this notification No. 116/2004 can be withdrawn after the officers return in the New Year.

They did not wait till the new year, but on 31^st December itself came out with a corrigendum. And we had pointed out that the corrigendum was worse than the amendment. While Notification No. 116/2004 sought to amend Notification No. 83/2000 and we pointed out that Notification No. 83/2000 was superseded by Notification No. 10/2001, the Board corrigendum just changed the amendment to 10/2001 instead of 83/2000. And we had commented that Notification 10/2001 does not contain the words that the Board wanted to change. We had suggested a simple solution- Withdraw Notification No. 116/2004.

We are happy to report that the Board has done exactly that!

But our happiness is short-lived. Notification No. 2/2005 which rescinds Notification No. 116/2004 as we suggested, says, except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such rescission. Nothing, absolutely nothing, was done under Notification No. 116/2004. Nothing could be done. Notification No. 116/2004 was an impossible notification.

The story, sadly does not end here. Board has gone a step further and has now amended Notification No. 10/2001 by notification No. 3/2005 dated 19.1.2005 and based on the recommendations of the designated authority wants to extend the validity of the notification No. 10/2001 till June 2005.

The anti-dumping duty imposed under this notification shall be effective upto and inclusive of the 25th day of June, 2005

Fine!, but the Notification is actually valid till 30^th January 2006! And the Board wants to extend it till 25^th June 2005. A strange extension indeed!

Something terribly wrong with notification making in the Board. Any hope??

See Notification No. and 3/2005 dated 19.1.2005.