Case Law Details
Tass Clearing Services Pvt Ltd. Vs Commissioner of Central Excise, Customs & Service Tax (CESTAT Hyderabad)
CESTAT find that even at the first stage the Tribunal did not find the contravention to be grave in nature as can be seen from the extract of the Tribunal’s Order reproduced above.
Further from the findings given by the Adjudicating Authority in the present OIO, it is seen that none of the submissions relied by the Appellant have been addressed. The Adjudicating Authority has simply reiterated that detailed inquiry conducted by the Officer and that the contraventions are clearly coming out in the Inquiry Officer’s Report and after this he has proceeded to go ahead with confirming the demand. Further, we see that while deciding the issue as to whether the present Appellant is liable to be penalised under Section 114, this Tribunal has come to a conclusion that no explicit findings have been given by the other Adjudicating Authority to the effect that the present Appellant has abetted in contravening any provisions of Customs Act. The Tribunal has set aside the penalties imposed under Section 114 on the present Appellant and their Director. Coming to the case law cited by Learned AR, it is distinguishable on the ground that in that case the Hon’ble High Court was dealing with the situation where the Respondent (CHA) was found guilty under Section 114 of Customs Act and a penalty of Rs.25,000/- was also imposed on him. In the present case, Tribunal has absolved the present Appellant of all penalties vide Final Order No. A/30459-30460/2018 dt.21.02.2018.
In view of the above factual and statutory provisions, CESTAT find that the revocation of license is a very harsh measure and is liable to be set aside and we do so. However as admittedly some minor contraventions have taken place, we find that CHA is required to be penalised with Rs.10,000/-which has already been done by encashing Bank Guarantee No.2/2007.
FULL TEXT OF THE CESTAT HYDERABAD ORDER
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