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2018 (8) TMI 188 - HC - CustomsJurisdiction - power of the Development Commissioner appointed under Section 11 of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 to pass an order imposing penalty under Section 11 (2) of the F.T. Act - Penalty - submission of the petitioner being that the alleged violation did not have any concern with or violate the F.T. Act or the SEZ Act - Section 21 of the SEZ Act read with the F.T. Act. Held that:- The self certification/declaration, the procedure for issue of GSP certification for units in the SEZ, was adopted and implemented for providing conducive environment to avoid and curtail loss of time so as to not delay exports on account of compliances and formalities. The procedure was based on faith and trust. It required honesty and probity on the part of the declarants. Act and omissions of the petitioner must be judged on the said parameters. 57. Thus, the impugned order rightly holds that in case of SEZ units, the Development Commissioner did not carry out actual verification exercise and the petitioner had self certified that biodiesel to be exported was eligible for the GSP certification as goods of Indian origin. The petitioner had earned “undue profit”, at the risk and peril of the country‘s reputation. Wrong and fraudulent certification could have affected our credibility and sanctity of GSP certification issued and stamped by Indian authorities. It could have resulted in withdrawal of benefits under the GSP scheme. Consequences and impact were far-reaching and immense - The Appellate Authority has rightly observed that the petitioner cannot wash away its responsibility and failure to furnish correct information and declaration on the origin of goods. Petitioner had made false declaration to procure wrong GSP certification. They were beneficiaries of the wrong declaration, which had jeo-pardised and harmed the country‘s prestige and reputation - Penalty was justified. Petition dismissed - decided against petitioner.
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