1997 (7) TMI 364

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....espondent. [Order]. -  The appeal is directed against the order-in-appeal dated 27-9-1996 passed by the Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise (Appeals), Allahabad upholding the order dated 20-2-1996 passed by the Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Lucknow. In terms of his said order, the Deputy Commissioner had imposed a penalty of Rs. 20,000/- on the appellant besides ordering confis....

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....ehicle. The police officers handed over the tractors with the cargo to the Customs authorities. The Deputy Collector after issue of show cause notice to the owner of the vehicle and the other persons confiscated the goods as well as the tractor. he held that the cloves were of third country origin which had been smuggled into the country from Nepal. He took the fact that the driver of the vehicle ....

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....here is no finding by the adjudicating authority to disprove the bona fide purchase of the cloves in Kanpur by the concerned owner thereof. As the cloves themselves would thus be not contraband and not liable to confiscation, there is no justification to proceed against the present appellant by imposing penalty on him and confiscating the tractor with trolley. He pleaded that the order may be set ....

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....ve been duly taken note of by me. I find that the contention raised by the learned Counsel regarding the explanation given by the present appellant who is the owner of the tractor and by the owner of the cloves had not been properly considered by the adjudicating authority. There is no finding in the adjudication order to disbelieve the source of acquisition of the cloves. No enquiry has also been....