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2015 (2) TMI 692 - AT - CustomsLevy of anti dumping duty - Misdeclaration of goods - Imposition of redemption fine and penalty - Held that:- Appellant has discharged the anti-dumping duty liability in terms of the aforesaid notification, when it was pointed out along with interest. I have also perused the bill of entry concerning the impugned transaction. In the said bill of entry, the importer had declared country of origin as Turkey and the port of export as Iran. Thus, there is no misdeclaration on the part of the respondent importer with respect to the impugned transaction. It is true that the respondent did not discharge the anti-dumping duty liability. The customs authorities also validated the transaction without noticing the mistake committed by the importer and therefore, it cannot be said that the respondent alone was negligent and not the department. Further, no goods have been seized or confiscated. The law does not provide for imposition of fine on a consignment which has already been cleared and not available for confiscation and therefore, imposition of redemption fine by the original authority on the importer is clearly unsustainable in law and therefore, the appellate authority was right in dropping the demand of fine. As regards the imposition of penalty, the appellate authority has rightly observed that there was no malafide on the part of the importer and it was only an inadvertent error. Section 111 (m) of the Customs Act applies only when there is a misdeclaration of any material particulars. In the present case, the appellant has not misdeclared any material particulars and therefore, the provisions of Section 111 (m) are not attracted in the fact of the case. Consequently, the liability to confiscation also does not arise and therefore, imposition of penalty on the appellant is also not warranted. Therefore, the lower appellate authority is absolutely correct in setting aside the imposition of fine and penalty. - No reason to interfere with the order passed by the lower appellate authority - Decided against Revenue.
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