Mat Shipping Vs C.C.-Kandla (CESTAT Ahmedabad)
CESTAT Ahmedabad held that main allegation of manipulation of final boiling point in the test report vis-à-vis- classification of product thereof not clarified in the order. Hence, impugned order cannot be sustained as all the charges flow from fundamental charge of manipulating test report.
Facts- The DRI under suspicion that importers are importing SKO in the guise of Industrial Composite Mixture Plus/Low Aromatic White Spirit. The SKO is a restricted item for import in India. The DRI suspected that these importers were obtaining fabricated test reports to avoid the detection of the true identity of goods to bypass the restrictions imposed by Ministry of Commerce.
On the strength of the investigation, the appellant’s license was suspended and a show cause notice was issued by Principal Commissioner charging that the appellant tried to influence the officers of the Custom laboratory, Kandla for issuing fabricated test report in order to avoid the material getting classified as SKO which is of restricted nature.
Conclusion- It is not understood as to how the appellant could have helped the importers by manipulating the final boiling point of the samples to below 240 Degree Celsius as alleged in the show cause notice. The above objective of taking the goods out of the description of SKO could only have been achieved if the final boiling point was above 300 Degree Celsius. This dichotomy has not been clarified in the impugned order. Since all the charges essentially flow from this fundamental charge of manipulating test report therefore, the impugned order in the present stage cannot be sustained unless the above dichotomy is explained.
FULL TEXT OF THE CESTAT AHMEDABAD ORDER
This appeal has been filed by M/s. MAT Shipping. The appellant was working as a custom broker for the following importers namely :-
