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2016 (11) TMI 558 - HC - CustomsImposition of penalty on petitioner - IEC - petitioner permitted the IEC to be used by a person known to petitioner (very closely) and that too for a consideration, though for a very insignificant amount - Held that: - When once the IEC is allowed to be used by someone else, the associated risks could be understood to have been well within the realm of knowledge of such an individual. In that view of the matter, we think that for the acts of lending IEC, rubber stamp and letter heads of the firm, the consequences which follow from Sections 113 and 114 of the said Act, cannot be avoided - However, what still remains to be examined by us is the justification behind the adjudicating authority in imposing a penalty of ₹ 1,00,000/- on the appellant before us, while all others, including the individual who has misused the IEC of the appellant and also the Customs House Agent, were imposed with lesser punishment of penalty of ₹ 50,000/-. Section 114 of the said Act has provided for discretion in the hands of the Adjudicating Authority to impose a penalty, which can go up to three times the value of the intended goods to be exported. Therefore, it is axiomatic that such a discretion should be exercised on sound lines. When discretion has been used while imposing the penalty of ₹ 50,000/- on all others, the same does not appear to have been exercised properly and even handed manner. At any rate, when it came to the appellant, in the absence of any specific mallacious intent attributable to the appellant exclusively for the entire episode, imposition of greater amount of penalty of ₹ 1,00,000/-, which is double the amount of penalty imposed on the others, does not appear to be justifiable - the amount of penalty against the appellant substituted to ₹ 50,000/- as against ₹ 1,00,000/-. Petition disposed off - penalty imposed, only penalty on petitioner reduced - decided partly in favor of petitioner.
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