Customs confiscation and stay relief rejected where retail price declaration could be cured before clearance.

Non-affixation of retail sale price on imported televisions did not, by itself, justify confiscation where the declaration could still be complied with before clearance for home consumption. Once the declared value had been accepted for assessment of basic customs duty, the retail sale price could not separately be treated as a basis for misdeclaration to invoke confiscation under Section 111(m) of the Customs Act, 1962. The Tribunal also held that Rule 28A of the Appellate Tribunal Procedure Rules was framed for an appellant's stay application seeking waiver of pre-deposit and did not cover the Revenue's application in the manner sought. No ground was made out to stay the impugned order, and the Revenue's stay request was held not maintainable.

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Issues: Whether the Revenue's request for stay of the impugned order was maintainable and whether any prima facie case was made out for interference with the order.

Analysis: The Tribunal accepted the Commissioner (Appeals)' reasoning that non-affixation of retail sale price on imported televisions did not, by itself, justify confiscation because the required declaration could be complied with before clearance for home consumption. It also accepted the view that, once the declared value had been accepted for assessment of basic customs duty, the retail sale price could not separately be treated as a basis for misdeclaration so as to invoke confiscation under Section 111(m) of the Customs Act, 1962. The Tribunal further held that the stay mechanism under Rule 28A of the Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal Procedure Rules was framed for stay applications by an appellant seeking waiver of pre-deposit and did not cover Revenue's appeal in the manner sought here.

Conclusion: No ground was made out to stay the impugned order, and the Revenue's stay application was not maintainable under Rule 28A.

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