TMI Blog2003 (8) TMI 142X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... indicated that he was not aware of any of illegal activity or any other plans of the exporters and he had merely taken up the job in his normal course of business. Nowhere, during the filing of shipping bills or processing he had slightest suspicion that the exporters had the intention of claiming the wrongful drawback benefit. Neither act of mala fide since he had prepared the shipping bills as per the documents. This is also clear from the statements given by Shri T.V. Ramesh and R. Gokul who were the agent instructed by M/s. Merill Export through whom the appellant had the opportunity of filing the above shipping bills. In the statements, all the three have specifically admitted that they had indulged in misdeclaration of quality, quanti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m, imposing penalty on Shri K.L. Alagu Murugappan, the appellant CHA is not proper and legal. He however admits that Shri Alagu Murugappan, CHA who normally sits in Chennai had made available pre-signed shipping bills to Shri T. Ramasamy, his employee and his representative at Tuticorin to enable him to fill up all the particulars based on the documents supplied by the exporters. This pre-singed shipping bills and other documents is done to facilitate easy process of documentation so that Shri T. Ramasamy does not have to come again back to Chennai for getting his signatures. This methodology is their internal arrangement and all pre-signed documents will always be between the authorised signatory and their authorised representative so that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rendered by this Bench in the case of A.N. Bhat v. CC as reported in 1991 (55) E.L.T. 580 in which it has been held that no penalty on clearing agent would be imposable for misdeclaration of export goods in cases where the clearing agent is not implicated in any manner by partner or export firm and it was held that although CHA acted with negligence, imposition of penalty not justified when clearing agent had no knowledge about the illegal activities of the exporters. Advocate also invited my attention to the judgment rendered by the West Zonal Bench in the case of Liladhar Pasoo Forwarders Pvt. Ltd. v. CC, Mumbai as reported in 2000 (122) E.L.T. 737 wherein it was held that no penalty for abatement can be imposed in the absence of knowled ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ef. Case No. 4 of 1997 and reported in 2001 (129) E.L.T. 29 (Mad.) - (Sri Kamakshi Agency v. Commissioner). He submits that the facts in that case were that the fraudulent activities carried on by Power-of-Attorney holder were to be treated as having been carried out by Proprietor or Petitioner Company himself and accordingly the revocation of licence was justified. DR also invited my attention to the judgment rendered by the Northern Bench, New Delhi in the matter of Shree M. Mohan Company v. CC, New Delhi as reported in 2001 (129) E.L.T. 746 in which it was held that since the CHA was not attending to work himself nor through an approved person but through another company, he was held to have violated Regulation 14 of Customs House Agen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... orter. I also refer to the judgment rendered in the matter of A.N. Bhat v. CC as reported in 1991 (55) E.L.T. 580 in which it was held that no penalty could be imposed when clearing agent had no knowledge about the illegal acts of exporters and no penalty under Section 114 of the Customs Act, 1962 can be imposed on the CHA. I also refer to the judgment rendered by West Zonal Bench in the case of Liladhar Pasoo Forwarders Pvt. Ltd. v. CC, Mumbai (surpa) wherein it was held that there has to be some degree of knowledge of contravention of law on the part of abettor must be shown for imposition of penalty under Section 112 of the Customs Act, 1962. The judgment referred by JDR pertains to the fraudulent activities carried out by the Power-of-A ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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