Monetary limit and factual findings barred interference with Customs Broker penalty deletion under the Customs Act.

A revenue appeal under Section 130 of the Customs Act was treated as not maintainable because the CBIC monetary limit for High Court appeals was Rs. 1 crore and no quantified penalty survived against the Customs Broker; reliance on the importer's overall investigation value was rejected as irrelevant to the respondent's own liability. The Tribunal's deletion of penalties under Sections 112(a) and 114AA was also left undisturbed because it rested on factual findings that the broker performed only a ministerial role, filed documents supplied by the importer, and lacked knowledge of any fraud or forgery, so no substantial question of law arose and no exception to the litigation policy applied.

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Issues: (i) Whether the revenue appeal under Section 130 of the Customs Act, 1962 was maintainable in view of the monetary limit prescribed by the CBIC instruction and the absence of any quantified penalty against the respondent; (ii) Whether any substantial question of law arose from the Tribunal's finding that the respondent, a Customs Broker, had only performed a ministerial role and had no knowledge of the alleged fraud, so as to justify interference with the deletion of penalties under Sections 112(a) and 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962.

Issue (i): Whether the revenue appeal under Section 130 of the Customs Act, 1962 was maintainable in view of the monetary limit prescribed by the CBIC instruction and the absence of any quantified penalty against the respondent.

Analysis: The monetary limit for appeals before the High Court was fixed at Rs. 1 crore under the relevant CBIC instruction. The Tribunal had set aside the penalty entirely, leaving no quantified liability against the respondent. The attempt to rely on the overall investigation value was held to be untenable because the appeal concerned the respondent's own liability, not the importer's separate exposure. The matter did not fall within any recognised exception to the litigation policy.

Conclusion: The appeal was not maintainable on the ground of monetary limit and no exception applied.

Issue (ii): Whether any substantial question of law arose from the Tribunal's finding that the respondent, a Customs Broker, had only performed a ministerial role and had no knowledge of the alleged fraud, so as to justify interference with the deletion of penalties under Sections 112(a) and 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962.

Analysis: The Tribunal's conclusion rested on factual findings that the respondent merely filed documents supplied by the importer, with no proof of knowledge of forgery or intentional suppression of material facts. Those findings were treated as findings of fact by the final fact-finding authority. In the absence of perversity or any demonstrated legal error, no substantial question of law emerged. The ancillary limitation issue under Section 28(9) was rendered academic once the merits-based exoneration was sustained.

Conclusion: No substantial question of law arose and the deletion of penalties was not liable to be interfered with.

Final Conclusion: The revenue challenge failed at the threshold because the appeal was barred by the litigation policy and, independently, because the Tribunal's factual exoneration of the respondent did not give rise to any justiciable question warranting admission.

Ratio Decidendi: In a revenue appeal against an individual respondent, the applicable monetary limit is determined by that respondent's own quantified liability, and findings of fact by the Tribunal as final fact-finding authority cannot be reopened in appeal absent perversity or a substantial question of law.

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