2010 (10) TMI 395
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.... declaring value thereof as Rs. 16,83,255/- were confiscated under Section 113(d) of the Customs Act, 1962 in view of actual value of Rs. 3,27,600/- revealed from market enquiry. (iii) 9600 pcs. of parts of garden rakes exported vide Shipping Bill No. 3345 dated 7-5-2003 under the description of 'garden Rakes' declaring value thereof as Rs. 7,71,374/- were confiscated under Section 113(d) of the Customs Act, 1962 in view of actual value of Rs. 96,972/- as per market enquiry . (iv) The goods mentioned in (i), (ii) and (iii) above were provisionally allowed to be exported against Bond and Bank Guarantee and such goods not being available for confiscation, penalty of Rs. 2,00,000/- (Rupees Two Lakhs only) on M/s. Jaina International, Unit-II, Basti Sheikh, Jalandhar was imposed under Section 114 of the Customs Act, 1962. (v) DEPB Benefit for the exports of goods mentioned at (i), (ii) and (iii) above was denied. 2. Revenue is in Appeal with the grievance that learned Adjudicating Authority did not impose redemption fine on the goods exported even though released provisionally against bond and bank guarantee when those we....
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.... Aldrop of all sizes approx. Rs. 35/- per kg. (2) Garden Rack without handle of all sizes approx. Rs. 37/- per kg. (3) Tent Peg approx. Rs. 18/- per piece. The proprietor of M/s. OST International opined that on the basis of his experience as manufacturer exporter, Item No. (3) referred to above was not 'Chisel' but a 'Tent Peg' as it had pointed tip and shape and hence it cannot be a Chisel. 7. On the basis of market enquiry, the values of items attempted to be exported i.e. "Aldrop", "Garden Rack" (without handle) and "Tent Peg" were found to be even less than the DEPB benefits claimed on these items. Thus the goods were seized on 14-8-2003 under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962 on the reasonable belief that the description and value of the goods had been mis-declared intentionally by the Assessee to avail higher DEPB benefits for which such goods were liable for confiscation under Section 111 of the Customs Act, 1962. However, on the request of the Appellant for provisional release of seized goods, those were released and shipment was allowed on 15-9-2003, on execution of bond for Rs. 37 Lacs and Bank Gua....
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....loy composition taking into consideration its rigid, tuff and ruff use and sometimes those are referred to as "chisel made of forged quality carbon steel". Chemical analysis report issued by M/s. Khan Chand Hans Raj in respect of the steel used for the manufacturing of cold chisel submitted by Assessee vide letter dated 27-12-2003 indicated the carbon percentage as "035/45". That report did not bear any reference/serial no., date or description/quality/quantity of the sample received for analysis. But the grade of the sample was shown as EN 8. There was no correlation in said report with the composition of steel used in manufacture of export goods. The Appellant also failed to produce any printed literature regarding "Carbon steel" to justify their claim of goods having "forged quality carbon steel" for which CRCL report was established. Goods exported were found to have pointed tip and shape, and opined as "Tent Peg" during the course of market enquiry. The Appellant without any evidence being adduced for rebuttal merely disputed the same and contended that it was "chisel". The printed literature submitted by the Assessee listed that item under Art No. 532 "Mason chisel flat & cro....
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.... questionable in view of his involvement in crores of rupees fraud for which he was arrested by Amritsar Customs. Value of the goods declared by assessee was excessive and high to claim DEPB benefit at the cost of Revenue for which confiscation was ordered. Assessee failed to rebut-the evidence tendered by Proprietor of M/s OST International leading .evidence although he merely challenged his no involvement in manufacture or export of the subject goods. Chemical analysis report of CRCL established assessee's goods to be of misdescription. Even technical literature produced by assessee failed to describe the goods seized. Over valuation of goods was established. The adjudication was justified and redemption fine as well as penalty was imposable. Assessee's appeal is accordingly liable to be dismissed and Revenue appeal being merited should be allowed. 13. Heard both sides and perused records and gone through the citations made by them. 14. Principal issue involved in these two appeals was whether exports were made making mis-declaration of description and value of goods to invite the consequence of adjudication and whether redemption fine was imposable. Evidence gathered by Re....
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....nath [1994 (1) SCC 1]. 17. In a leading English case i.e. Derry and Ors. v. Peek - (1886-90) All ER 1 what constitutes "fraud" was described thus: (All ER p. 22 B-C) "fraud" is proved when it is shown that a false representation has been made (i) knowingly, or (ii) without belief in its truth, or (iii) recklessly, careless whether it be true or false". This aspect of the matter has been considered by Apex Court in Roshan Deen v. Preeti Lal [2002 (1) SCC 100], Ram Preeti Yadav v. U.P. Board of High School and Intermediate Education [2003 (8) SCC 311], Ram Chandra Singh's case (supra) and Ashok Leyland Ltd. v. State of T.N. and Another [2004 (3) SCC 1]. Suppression of a material document would also amount to a fraud on the court, (see Gowrishankar v. Joshi Amha Shankar Family Trust, [1996 (3) SCC 310] and S.P. Chengalvaraya, Naidu's case AIR-1994 SC-853. No judgment of a Court can be allowed to stand if it has been obtained by fraud. Fraud unravels everything and fraud vitiates all transactions known to the law of however high a degree of solemnity. 18. When the Assessee made misdeclaration as to value of goods, the burden of proof was on the declarant. But that....
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