2009 (7) TMI 648

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.... container were taken inside the port for loading in a vessel "Emirates Freedom" on 23-12-06 (Saturday), 24-12-06 (Sunday) and 25-12-06 (X'mas day) were holidays for the Customs department. Let Export Order (LEO) in respect of the consignment was issued by the proper officer of customs on the next working day (26-12-06). Without waiting for this order, the vessel had sailed off on 25-12-06 itself. On these facts, a show-cause notice was issued by Commissioner of Customs to these appellants. The proposal, in that notice, to confiscate the goods under Section 113(g) of the Customs Act and impose penalties under Section 114(iii) of the Act was contested by the parties concerned. It was in adjudication of this dispute that the impugned order wa....

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....onnection, reference has been made to a decision in the case of Shree Shipping Services v. Commissioner of Customs 2005 - (179) E.L.T. 284 (Tri-Mumbai) and also the decision in Safe C & F Agency Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Customs - 2007 (210) E.L.T. 225 (Tri-Mumbai). In both these cases, personal penalties on CHA were set aside. As regards redemption fine, the learned Counsel submits that no such fine was liable to be imposed on the exporter, as the exported goods were not available for confiscation. In this connection, the learned Counsel has relied on the decision in the case of Commissioner of Customs v. Raja Impex (P) Ltd. - 2008 (229) E.L.T. 185 (P&H), wherein the Hon'ble High Court held that, where imported goods were not available ....

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....ningless provision of law. It provides that the proper officer of customs may make an order for permitting clearance and loading of the goods for exportation, which would mean that the goods for exportation could not be loaded in the vessel without obtaining permission of the proper officer of customs. It is this permission of the proper officer of customs which is referred to as 'Let Export Order' (LEO) issued to the exporter and therefore the exporter is entitled to the benefit of that order. Conversely, if the exporter chooses to export the goods without obtaining LEO from the proper officer of customs, he is liable for the consequences. What emerges from the provisions of Section 51 of the Act is that any exportation without LEO is proh....

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....f this provision. Section 40 of the Act provides that the person-in-charge of a conveyance shall not permit the loading of export goods at a customs station unless a shipping bill duly passed by the proper officer has been handed over to him by the exporter. This provision has a clear nexus to Section 51 of the Act. It makes a shipping line liable to wait for the clearance of the proper officer of customs. This clearance, technically referred to as 'Let Export Order', has to be handed over to the shipping line by none other than the exporter. Of course, alternatively, it could be handed over by CHA, who is an agent of the exporter. In the instant case, obviously, the exporter, the CHA and the shipping line committed breach of the prohibitio....