Gurjit Singh Bains Vs Addl Commissioner of Customs Import & Ors (Delhi High Court)
Delhi High Court held that repeated placing and removing from the call book is not valid justification for non-adjudication of show cause notice for more than 10 years. Accordingly, order passed after 10 years is not sustainable and liable to be quashed.
Facts- A Directorate of Revenue Intelligence investigation was initiated against one M/s. Seiger International, New Delhi for evasion of Customs Duty for the period between May 2011 to October 2012. The allegation was that the Proprietor of the said firm Ms. Kulpreet Kaur along with Mr. Sandeep Arora, Managing Director of M/s Glo Trans Logistics Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi in collusion with one Mr. Gurjit Singh Bains submitted duplicate lower value invoices for clearance of the imported goods.
The original invoices were given by Mr. Gurjit Singh Bains for the furniture and lighting fixtures, which were also filed. The statements of Ms. Kulpreet Kaur and Mr. Sandeep Arora were recorded on 19th August 2014 and 21st August 2014 respectively.
The show cause notice was then issued on the basis of the statements which were recorded and the documentary evidences filed. The main firm i.e., M/s Seiger International through the Proprietor i.e. Ms. Kulpreet Kaur approached the Settlement Commission, Principal Bench u/s. 127B of the Customs Act, 1962. The Settlement Commission heard the parties and after considering the entire matter, passed an order dated 13th April 2016 wherein the commission settled the amounts payable by Ms. Kulpreet Kaur.
