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2015 (11) TMI 503 - AT - CustomsConfiscation and penalty – Misdeclaration – Overvaluation to claim higher DEPB rates – Whether the provisions of sections 113(d) and 114 of the Customs Act, 1962 are invocable in the case of export under Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) scheme or not - Held that:- DEPB scrip is issued by the field offices of the Director General of Foreign Trade on the basis of value and description of export goods in accordance with the scheme envisaged in Chapter IV of the Foreign Trade Policy for the relevant period. The Foreign Trade Policy is notified in exercise of powers vested with the Director General of Foreign Trade under Section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1991. We observe that, in relation to exports, a declaration under section 50 of Customs Act, 1962 in the form of shipping bill is filed before the goods are brought into the customs area for examination and clearance thereof as per section 51. Thereafter goods are loaded on the designated conveyance in accordance with its availability for taking out of India and, thus, completing the process of export. Generally, the verification of particulars filed in the shipping bill is exclusively in the hands of the proper officer of Customs whose reports are relied upon by other agencies and offices of the Government of India. Mandates and rules, if not complied with, amounted to goods being exported in contravention of prohibition under other laws and hence crystallizing the liability to confiscation under section 113(d) of Customs Act,1962. We would note that section 113(d) used the word "prohibition" whereas in clauses (c), (e), (f), (g) and (h) of section 113 the word "prohibited" qualified the goods liable for confiscation. The deletion of this qualifying phrase by Finance Act, 2003 without any changes in clause (d) would indicate that the word "prohibition" was not intended to be read as related only to prohibited goods. It is, thus, amply clear that prohibition referred to in other sections of the Customs Act, 1962 are not limited to those notified under section 11 of the same Act. Prohibition has a much wider connotation that traverses beyond Prayag Exporters. - misdeclaration of quantity, description or value with intent to claim benefits under schemes in the Foreign Trade Policy would bring such goods within the prohibition envisaged in the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Rules, 2003 which allows section 113(d) and section 114 to be invoked for confiscation of export goods that breach these Rules. - Customs officers are empowered to invoke section 113(d) and 114 of Customs Act, 1962 in cases relating to export under claim for DEPB - Appeal disposed of.
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