CESTAT held that penalty under Regulation 18 of CBLR 2013...

CESTAT held that penalty under Regulation 18 of CBLR 2013 requires establishing violations under grounds (a), (b), or (c) through documentary evidence. While the Authority has discretionary power to impose penalties up to 50,000 for regulatory non-compliance or misconduct, the Inquiry Report was found inconclusive and the Commissioner failed to demonstrate specific violations. The Tribunal noted that Regulation 18 provides for either license revocation or penalty imposition, not both. Despite the Authority's jurisdictional competence to determine appropriate sanctions, the lack of substantiated evidence linking the Customs Broker's actions to prescribed violations warranted deletion of the penalty. Revenue's appeal was accordingly dismissed.

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