Unreliable stock records and unrecorded goods can justify confiscation where contemporaneous seizure evidence is absent.

A stock position and finished goods register produced after the show cause notice was treated as unreliable because it was not shown to form part of the contemporaneous seizure record and no timely objection was raised when the panchnama allegedly omitted it. On that basis, the document was regarded as fabricated and the departmental finding that statutory records were unavailable during the search was accepted. Goods found without acceptable statutory support were treated as liable to confiscation, and the special treatment claimed by a 100% Export Oriented Unit did not apply in the absence of proof that the goods were covered by an export order.

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Issues: Whether the stock position and finished goods register produced by the appellant could be relied upon, and whether the confiscation of the seized goods and imposition of penalty were justified.

Analysis: The stock register produced by the appellant was held to be unreliable because it was not shown to have formed part of the contemporaneous seizure record, no immediate objection was raised when the panchnama allegedly omitted it, and the document appeared only after issuance of the show cause notice. The Tribunal treated the document as fabricated and accepted the departmental case that the statutory records were not available during the search. On that basis, the entire seized stock was treated as goods without proper support in the statutory records, and the Tribunal also held that the special treatment available to a 100% Export Oriented Unit could not assist the appellant in the absence of proof that the goods were meant for export against any export order.

Conclusion: The confiscation of the seized goods and the penalty were upheld, and the appeal was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: A document produced belatedly and not shown to be part of the contemporaneous seizure record cannot be relied upon to displace the departmental finding of unrecorded stock, and goods found without acceptable statutory support may be treated as liable to confiscation.

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