Arghya Sengupta Vs Commissioner of Customs (Port.) (CESTAT Kolkata)
Summary: The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Kolkata, allowed the appeal filed by Shri Arghya Sengupta and set aside penalties imposed under Sections 112(b) and 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962. The dispute arose from an alleged misdeclaration of Paraquat as “Liquid Industrial Soap” in Bill of Entry No. 8426063 dated 03.02.2017.
The case originated from intelligence indicating that M/s Puskar Tradecom Pvt. Ltd. had imported Paraquat while falsely declaring it as “Industrial Washing Liquid” in consignments cleared through Kolkata Seaport and NSCBI Air Cargo Complex. During subsequent investigation into past shipments, the Department alleged that Shri Arghya Sengupta, who operated as a Customs House Clearing Agent using the licence of CHA S. Murugan, had facilitated clearance of the mis-declared goods.
The investigation recorded statements from Shri Swarup Sana, an authorised person of S. Murugan, and Shri Arghya Sengupta. According to the statements, Sengupta prepared import-clearance documents based on documents supplied by importers, used S. Murugan’s CHA licence with authorisation, and was present during customs clearance. In relation to the disputed Bill of Entry, he stated that although the documents described the goods as “Liquid Industrial Soap”, the actual goods were Paraquat, as informed to him by Shri Manoj Agarwal, a director of Puskar Tradecom Pvt. Ltd.
