Home Case Index All Cases Customs Customs + AT Customs - 2015 (7) TMI AT This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2015 (7) TMI 925 - AT - CustomsPenalty under Section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962 - Evasion of duty - Undervaluation of goods - Held that:- from a plain reading of provisions of sub-section (n) and (o), it is clear that these provisions are not applicable to the case. In fact Section 111(n) deals with transit/transhipment of goods. Section 111(o) deals with a situation where certain claim is claimed subject to some condition and subsequently the said condition is not followed. In the present case, it is not a situation. In fact, the impugned goods were never cleared from Customs therefore claiming exemption does not arise. Consequently, the provisions of Section 111(n) and (o) are not applicable to the facts of this case. - Any Bill of Entry was yet to be filed by the appellants to clear the subject import. The first occasion for an importer to declare or misdeclare particulars of the goods imported by him is at the stage of filing Bill of Entry. He cannot be held liable for any misstatement of particulars in Bill of Lading or Import manifest. Hence, as rightly contended by the appellants, the finding of misdeclaration against them is untenable. In this case, the investigating agency (DRI) also ventured into an inquiry as to what should be the assessable value of the goods and as to whether the importer had misdeclared the value of the goods. The importer never filed any Bill of Entry declaring the value and other particulars of the goods. Hence it is absurd for the DRI to have ventured to such an exercise. Surprisingly, this absurdity was sustained by learned Commissioner in the impugned order. As the appellant has not filed any Bill of Entry neither placed order for supply of the impugned goods to the supplier/exporter, the penalty under Section 112(a) of the Customs Act is not imposable on the appellant. - Impugned order is set aside - Decided in favour of assessee.
|