2008 (4) TMI 592

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....on the appellants under Section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962. 2. Heard both sides and perused the records. 3. The brief facts of the case are that the appellants filed the bill of entry No. 698824 dated 17-2-2006 on behalf of the importer under DFRC Licence No. 031035024 dated 4-10-2005, for clearance of 73 bales containing 18,647 meters Textile Piece goods from China with the declared value of Rs. 3,34,859/-. The Bill of Entry was filed under DFRC Licence No. 031035024 dated 4-10-2005. On specific intelligence gathered by Central Intelligence Unit CIU the goods were offloaded at CFS-Gateway Distripark Ltd. (GDL) and were subjected to 'first check' examination order. Representative sealed sample was forwarded to the Te....

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....who was held to have switched the sample was not their employee and the Agency, could not be held accountable for his actions; that the documents were handed over to the importer's agent in good faith and they cannot be responsible for events thereafter; that in the circumstances they cannot be charged with abetment. 4. However, the Commissioner (Appeals) did not agree with the contention of the appellants and held as under : "It is observed that the CHA is the authorized person for facilitation of clearance of the goods through the various Customs procedures. The Bill of Entry bears the name of the CHA as a testimony to their being not only the duly authorized agent but also the one responsible for clearance of the goods in the ....