TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1997 (6) TMI 257
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....bserved that Mr. Chandiram Lilaram has produced certain Bills of Entry, though not covering all the goods seized, which go to show that items like snap fasteners etc. have been lawfully imported through the Customs frontier of the country on payment of appropriate duty leviable thereon. Though the said Bills of Entry are not in the name of Mr. Chandiram Lilaram, as has been attempted to be shown in the show cause notice that Mr. Chandiram Lilaram, M/s. G.V. Agencies, M/s. Sun International, M/s. New India Co. etc. are acting together, it can be safely presumed that the non-notified goods seized may be those which have been imported in the name of M/s. G.V. Agencies, M/s. Sun International and other firms in the names of which the Bills of E....
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....port and possession by Shri Chandiram Lilaram is not legal and proper for the following reasons :- (1) The goods seized from the various godown and shop premises of M/s. Chandiram Lilaram related to the importation of foreign goods under various bills of entry in the name of different parties. This had been admitted by the Advocate of Shri Chandiram Lilaram. (2) The goods had been imported and cleared through Customs by submitting fake documents with forged stamp of the bankers and forged invoice by under-valuing the goods. This was established by the seizure of incriminating documents from the possession of Shri Chandiram Lilaram, such as rubber stamp....
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....iram Lilaram. (5) Shri Chandiram Lilaram cannot be considered innocent buyer of the seized goods in the normal course of trade because there is sufficient evidence on record to show that M/s. Chandiram Lilaram was the brain behind the import of goods in the names of different firms and that he is the financier in respect of seized goods as he places orders, arranges clearance, pays Customs duty and takes delivery of the goods after clearance. (6) Even though there may not have been exact 1 to 1 correlation between goods seized and the goods unauthorisedly imported under various bills of entry, however, there is over-whelming preponderance of evidence t....
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.... last two points were decided against Shri Chandiram Lilaram, he filed a Writ before the Honourable Calcutta High Court. The Honourable High Court set aside the Order and ordered re-adjudication of the case. The learned JDR, Shri Ghosh points out that the first aspect namely, release of non-notified goods was not contested by Shri Chandiram Lilaram as it was in his favour. The relevant portion of the Honourable High Court Order is reproduced below :- "We make it clear that this Order will not effect the appeal preferred by the Collector of Customs against the Order dated 10-10-1988." 4. Learned JDR, Shri Ghosh submits that the present appeal of the Department is only on the question of release of non-notified goods. 5. Th....
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....and that the declaration was not correct. On the question of smuggled nature of the goods, we find that two things are necessary. The first is - whether there was any prohibition or restriction on the import of the goods and if it is so then, whether this prohibition or restriction was followed by the importer. On this aspect nothing has been brought out on record to prove that the goods were subject to any prohibition or restriction. Therefore, the second aspect becomes relevant and that is, whether the goods were cleared on payment of appropriate amount of duty. We note that the evidence on record based on investigations shows that the goods were cleared after presenting the bills of entry and duty assessed on the bills of entry was paid ....