2001 (9) TMI 375

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....he Customs Act is imposable. 2. Shri G.S. Bhangoo, learned Advocate, submitted that they had imported garlic from Pakistan and claimed exemption from payment of Special Additional Duty of Customs (SAD) under Notification No. 56/98; that the Commissioner under the impugned Order has disallowed the exemption under the said Notification holding that no evidence has been produced by them to show that they had paid any sales tax/local tax/other charges on sale of goods as was required under the Notification; that the provisions of Notification has been misinterpreted by the Department; that the benefit of the Notification will be deniable only if the imported goods are sold from a place in an area where there is no tax on purchase or sal....

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....t the Special Additional Duty is imposed under Section 3A of the Customs Tariff Act and not under Customs Act, Sub-section (4) of Section 3A provides that the provisions of the Customs Act and the Rules and Regulations made thereunder shall so far as may be applied in relation to the duty leviable under Customs Act; that in a similar situation where the duty was levied under Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957, the Delhi High Court held that the Central Excise Act and the Rules cannot be imparted in the Additional Duty Act for the purpose of levy of penalty. He, therefore, contended that accordingly the provisions relating to penalty under Section 114A of the Act cannot be imparted to levy penalty under Custo....

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....clearance of the goods; that the Supreme Court in the case of Ujagar Prints v. U.O.I., 1988 (38) E.L.T. 535 (S.C.) has held while interpreting Section 3(3) of Additional Duties of Excise (Goods of Special Importance) Act, 1957 that Section 3(3) has the effect not only of attracting the procedural provisions of the Central Excise Act but also all its other provisions including those containing the definition. He, therefore, contended that in the light of this judgment of the Supreme Court the penal provision of Customs Act are attractive in respect of SAD imposed under Section 3A of the Customs Tariff Act. 3.2  In reply the learned Advocate submitted that the Delhi High Court has considered this decision of the Supreme Court in Ujaga....

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....together for its interpretation. The Special Additional Duty is exempted if like goods are not charged to sales tax etc. on sale or purchase. We do not find any substance in the submissions of the learned Advocate for the appellants that the Notification will not be applicable only if there is a total tax holiday in the area the goods are sold. Admittedly the goods have been sold from a place located in an area where no sales tax was paid on the imported garlic. We, therefore, hold that the benefit of exemption under Notification has been correctly denied to them and the duty confirmed against them is upheld. However, we find substance in the submissions of the learned Advocate that penalty under Section 114A of the Customs Act is not impos....