Ramvir Singh Vs Commissioner of Customs (CESTAT Delhi)
CESTAT find that the appellant has received full set of documents through the freight forwarder and there was no reason for him to doubt the genuineness of the exporter. Further, as the goods were factory stuffed and sealed, the appellant – CHA has no reason to doubt any malpractice on the part of the exporter. Thus, I find that under the facts and circumstances, no case of abetment in attempted export of prohibited goods, against the appellant is made out.
FULL TEXT OF THE CESTAT DELHI ORDER
The issue involved in this appeal is whether penalty of Rs.1 lakh has been rightly imposed on the appellant –CHA under Section 114(i) of the Customs Act.
2. Brief facts of the case are that, one M/s All Craft Exports, a Proprietorship firm of Smt. Asha Narang of Saharanpur, U.P. having IEC No. 3313007601 filed shipping bill No. 9816453 dated 01.02.2014, intending to export 320 Nos. of wooden floor lamps and 70 Nos. of Jaipur Bench valued at USD 9380 (factory stuffed & sealed) to M/s Shining Ocean International (Hongkong) Group Company Limited, Hong Kong. The shipping bill alongwith check list, invoice, packing list and other documents were filed through the appellant –CHA.
3. Sh. Sanjay Kumar, G-Card Holder of M/s Ramvir, CHA, presented the export documents i.e. Check List of Shipping Bill, Invoice, Packing List, Annexure-C, CENVAT declaration and Carting Sheet; that during examination, it was observed that there were 463 packages, instead of 390 packages as declared by the party in the Shipping Bill, Invoice & Packing List; that it was observed that out of 70 (Seventy) numbers of Jaipur Benches, 50 benches were heavier; that on examination of the heavier benches – hollow space under the benches, covered by nailing them with ply-board, wooden logs having fragrance like Sandal wood were found concealed; that rest of the 20 benches were of light weight nothing was found concealed.
3.1 That two types of wooden floor lamps stuffed with dry grass were found i.e. one made of wooden logs and other made of Hard Paper Board; that round shape ordinary painted wood pieces were nailed around the wooden logs and lamp shade with holder fixed temporarily on its top without any electrical wiring, in such a manner that it looked like a wooden floor lamp; that on detailed examination, the wooden logs appeared to be of Red Sanders Wood whereas the second type of Wooden Floor Lamp was found to be made of normal Hard Paper Board; that there were 15 numbers of small wooden logs round shaped ordinary painted wood pieces wrapped with blue colour polythene and nailed around; that the wooden logs appeared to be of Red Sanders Wood; that there were 77 numbers of big wooden logs wrapped with brown colour paper & dry grass and packed in white colour plastic sheet. On examination, it was found that big wooden logs were also appeared to be of Red Sanders Wood. The said goods were detained vide Panchnama dated 06.02.2014 for further investigation.
3.2 That as per schedule 2 of ITC (HS), the export of Sandal wood in log form and Red Sanders wood in any form is prohibited for export and are liable for confiscation under section 113 of the Customs Act, 1962 read with Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 and Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Rules, 1993 and provision of Indian Forest Act, 1927.
4. That weighment of the detained goods was conducted on 08.02.2014 on electronic weighing machine (installed in the export warehouse) in the presence of Sh. Sanjay Kumar – “G” Card holder of M/s Ramvir CHA, Shri Atul Kumar – Warehouse Executive, Sh. Sanjay Kumar Bhardwaj – Executive, Sh. Ravinder Singh – Deputy Manager of the Custodian. The detail of weighment of the goods found was as per table given below:-
