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2023 (8) TMI 416 - CESTAT ALLAHABADConfiscation of Vehicle - redemption fine - penalty - Smuggling - Betel Nuts - Foreign Origin goods - goods notified under Section 123 of the Customs Act - place of origin of betel nuts can be determined through test in laboratory or not - HELD THAT:- On going through the impugned order of Commissioner (Appeals), it is noted that he has primarily gone by the fact that betel nuts are not notified under Section 123 of the Customs Act and the onus to prove that the same are smuggled is on the Revenue as held by the Tribunal in the case of BABOO BANIK VERSUS COMMISSIONER OF C. EX. & CUS., LUCKNOW [2004 (7) TMI 482 - CESTAT, KOLKATA]. Further, the Tribunal in the case of BIJOY KUMAR LOHIA VERSUS COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (PREV.), PATNA [2005 (11) TMI 306 - CESTAT, KOLKATA] has held that the local trade opinion cannot take the place of the legal evidence. The reliance on the opinion of Arecanut Research & Development Foundation (ARDF), Mangalore as regards the country of origin by the Original Adjudicating Authority was not proper inasmuch as the said organization in reply to an RTI query has stated that it is not possible to determine the place of origin of betel nuts through test in laboratory. As such, the Appellate Authority agreed upon that the said report can only be treated as an opinion and not as scientific test report regarding the country of origin. Further, even if the betel nuts are held to be of foreign origin, the same can be confiscated only when it is proved that betel nuts have been illegally smuggled into the country. Revenue has not produced any evidence to show that the betel nuts in question were smuggled into India. The respondent had also brought on record a survey report on the cultivation of areca nuts in India issued by the Directorate of Arecanut and Spices Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India which shows substantial production of betel nuts in West Bengal, Assam and North Eastern State. In the absence of any positive evidence to establish the foreign origin of the goods and their illegal smuggling into the country, their confiscation is neither warranted nor justified. There are no infirmity in the impugned order of the Commissioner (Appeals) - Appeal of Revenue dismissed.
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