2014 (5) TMI 201

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....gs of third country origin betel nuts from a train coming from Guwahati. It is seen that there were total 285 bags of betel nut booked by M/s. Keon Trading Company which is a proprietary unit of Shri Krishna Das. The said consignment was booked through railway lease holder M/s. Shree Global Cargo where Shri Krishna Das is also one of the partner. The consignee of the goods was shown as one M/s. Ganapati Traders. 3. A sample of betel nut was drawn and an expert opinion of one Shri Anand Aggrawal of M/s. Wazirganj Ward Upbhogata Sahakari Samiti Ltd. was obtained. As per the opinion of Shri Anand Agarwal, betel nuts were split and coloured to camouflage their origin, but out of his experience he opined that betel nuts were not of Indian or ....

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....betel nuts were booked by M/s. Keon Trading Company from Guwahati to Delhi. The said consignment was intercepted by DRI Officers at Kanpur on 23.9.2010. Surprisingly only 86 bags were offloaded and were subsequently seized and confiscated. As per the appellants, the balance 199 bags, though were of the same consignment were examined by the DRI at the Delhi Railway station arrived at Delhi in the same train and nothing objectionable were found and handed over to the authorised representative of the M;/s. Keon Trading Company.  In any case, and in any view of the matter, it is seen that foreign origin of betel nut stand established by the Revenue on the basis of so called expert opinion of Shri Anand Agarwal . The said person has give....

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.... from Guwahati to Delhi after crossing state barriers at places in between. 8. Apart from the fact that there is no evidence on record to show that the foreign origin of the goods, I also note that the betel nuts are neither notified under Chapter IV of the Customs Act nor under section 123 of the Act. As such, the onus to prove that the same have been smuggled lies very heavily upon the Revenue and is required to be discharged by producing sufficient positive and tangible evidence. The Revenue in the present case apart from relying upon so called expert opinion as regards the foreign origin of the goods have not produced any evidence to establish the smuggled nature of the goods. It is not the case of the Revenue that betel nuts of fore....