By TIOL News Service

MUMBAI, MAY 06, 2014: THE applicant is Superintendent of Customs who gave Let Export Order in respect of the consignments which were highly overvalued by the exporter to get undue drawback.

Pursuant to SCN proceedings, the original authority imposed a penalty of Rs.25,000/- under Section 114(iii) of the Customs Act, 1962.

The appeal filed by the Superintendent was dismissed by the Commissioner (Appeals) as time barred.

Before the CESTAT, the applicant submits that the adjudication order is dated 2.4.2013 and appeal is to be filed within 60 days i.e. the limitation expires on 1.6.2013. 1 st June 2013 being Saturday and 2 nd June being Sunday, the appeal could not be filed. Hence, the appeal was filed within the normal period of limitation.

On merits, it is submitted that the applicant was done nothing wrong - the applicant gave let export order in respect of only two consignments whereas in the present case the seven consignments are in dispute and hence, the penalty is not sustainable.

The Revenue representative relied upon the findings of the lower authority and submitted that applicant had given let export order in respect of the consignments which were highly overvalued to get undue drawback for monetary consideration. The revenue relied upon the statement of Shri. Khalid Ashraf Begawala recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act, where he admitted that he has paid Rs.30,000/- per Rs.1 Crore of FOB value of the export consignment under DEPB scheme and Rs.2.5 to Rs.3 per piece of garment for drawback shipping bill to the applicant and it worked out to about Rs.10,00,000/- per month of payment in cash by him.

The Bench held that in view of the statement by the co-noticee where he implicated himself as well as the applicant, in the sense that the applicant was allowing the shipment of overvalued goods for monetary consideration, the applicant had not made out a case for waiver of penalty.

In fine, the CESTAT directed the Superintendent of Customs to deposit Rs.25,000/- being the penalty imposed on him u/s 114(iii) of the Customs Act, 1962 within a period of eight weeks and report compliance.

In passing: The tip of the iceberg - 57 lakhs cash seized at resident - also see 2013-TIOL-1782-CESTAT-MUM & 2013-TIOL-1788-CESTAT-MUM.