2005 (10) TMI 459

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....ppellant and seized four gold biscuits with foreign marks and three cut pieces on a belief that these were smuggled goods. The weighment of the said goods was done and a panchanama was prepared. Further statements of the appellants were recorded and a show cause notice was issued to the appellant for confiscation of the goods and imposition of the penalty. During the adjudication proceedings the appellants submitted the bills of the purchases of the gold biscuits and explained that the cut pieces were remnants of the gold used in making jewellery. The adjudicating authority held that only one of the gold biscuits matched with the weight of the gold biscuits as mentioned in the invoices submitted by the appellants and released the same to th....

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....d biscuits confirms that the standard weight of the gold biscuits of foreign make is always 116.640 gms. 5. Considered the submission made by both sides and perused the records. In this case the dispute is regarding the status of the three gold biscuits that were found in the appellants residential and business premises i.e. whether the said three gold biscuits were smuggled or obtained by the appellants in a legal transaction. In order to appreciate the fact it is required to reproduce the details of the purchase bills as produced by the appellants before the adjudicating authority and the appellant authority, which is as follows : "4. The appellants had submitted following bills for gold for the impugned gold. The description ....

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...., were having a weight difference of more than 2 to 3 grams. He submits that this much weight difference cannot be considered as minor difference and it has to be presumed that the purchase bills produced by the appellants do not pertain to the said three gold biscuits. He also further contends that since the weight of the three gold biscuits is not tallying with the purchase bills, finding of the adjudicating authority and the appellate authority has to be upheld. He submits that the purchase bills were specifically mentioning the weight of the gold. 5. I find that the details of the purchases made by the appellants from the said M/s. B. G. Jewellers and M/s. Lawat Jewellers, both from Jaipur is not disputed to the extent that these ....

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.... Jewellers did not record the fact that the bills of the said jewellers were in fact prepared after the weighment of the disputed three gold biscuits. On the other hand from the perusal of the statements of these persons it seems to me that the Gold Biscuits were sold as having standard weights and the billing is done accordingly. It is also not recorded that the said directors of the sellers of the gold biscuits were confronted with the disputed gold biscuits and asked whether they sold the same gold biscuits. In the absence of any such evidence the appellant has discharged beyond doubt the nature of the procurement of the three disputed gold biscuits in his possession as being legal and lawful. Further the correctness of the invoices of t....