TMI Blog1988 (3) TMI 273X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t her residence the officer of the Customs visited the said premises and carried out the search. The search yielded in the recovery of the contraband goods valued at Rs. 41,450/-. After the seizure the appellant appeared to have stated that she was not keeping well and she would give her statement after 2 days. On 24-9-1983,the Suptd. of Central Excise (Prev.) Hdqrs, Pune recorded the appellant s statement. Among other things, she had stated that all the seized goods of foreign origin were imported by her and her family members on payment of duty and under free allowance as personal baggage from time to time and when they visited Singapore between 1979 to 1983. She had also produced Xerox copy of eight customs receipts regarding payment of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hind by her married daughter who had been living at Singapore for over 10 years. Shri Rohira submitted that 8 baggage receipts were produced. The CIF value of the baggage receipts was Rs. 12,300/-. Besides, the persons who travelled between Singapore and India were entitled to free allowance. For the purpose of market value the Customs adopted a rule of them viz. multiplied the CIF value into 3 and arrived at the market value. The market value arrived at was Rs. 41,450/-. If the CIF value and full allowance were to be the market value of the goods comes to more than Rs. 45,000/-. Therefore, the Addl. Collector was wholly unjustified in ordering confiscation. Shri Rohira complained that the Addl. Collector s observation that the goods would ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ected. 5. I have considered the submissions made on both the sides and perused the available records. From the impugned order it is seen that the show cause notice was issued alleging illegal import of the seized goods and for the failure to file a declaration as required under Sec. 11C of the Customs Act. The appellant was called upon to show cause as to why penalty should not be imposed on her under Sec. 112(b) and why the goods should not be confiscated under 111(d) and 111(p) of the said Act. In the whole of his order the Addl. Collector did not consider as to whether there had been any violation of Chpt. IVA of the Customs Act and there was not even an indication in his order as to which of the seized goods were notified goods. But s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sions of the Customs Act in relation to the goods of foreign origin. All that the Addl. Collector did in this case was an arithmetic exercise. He added the market price of all the seized goods. He also added the market price of the all goods mentioned in the baggage receipts. Since the market price of seized goods exceeded the market price of the goods covered by the baggage receipts, he concluded that the goods in excess to the market price of the baggage receipts should be confiscated and therefore he ordered confiscation. As stated earlier, the Customs Act authorises confiscation of the goods illegally imported into India. Therefore there is a duty cast on the Addl. Collector to ascertain which out of the seized goods were illegally impo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o India and she was leaving behind her personal effects including sarees. That defence was also not disbelieved. 9. It is common knowledge that for the purpose of determining the market price in respect of consumer goods, the Customs authorities were taken the margin of profits as 300%. Apparently that yardstick must have been applied while giving the value of the seized goods in the panchanama. The value of the seized goods given in the panchanama was Rs. 41,450/-. The Addl. Collector had accepted all the baggage receipts. The CIF value of the baggage receipts alone comes to Rs. 12,300/-. If the same is multiplied by 3 the market price comes to Rs. 36,900/-. Thus the difference between panchanama value and baggage receipts value is less ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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