2014 (8) TMI 810
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....1962 on the respondent. 3. Hon'ble Gujarat High Court passed the following order : Reasons are a soul of any judicial order and good and proper reasoning makes its body strong. That being lacking in the impugned order, we hereby remand the matter to the Customs, Excise and Service Appellate Tribunal, West Zonal Branch, Ahmedabad directing it to decide the matter afresh after giving notice to the parties and hearing them. The Tribunal is directed to pass reasoned order. As per the above discussion, we hold that the Tribunal committed an error in passing the impugned order. The question formulated above is accordingly answered in affirmative. 4. Tax Appeal No. 624/2010 was filed by the Revenue in the High Court against a common order dt 25/8/2009 passed by CESTAT, Ahmedabad where Shri Dev Kumar Kapta was one of the appellants. A penalty of Rs. 25 lakh was imposed upon the present appellant by the Adjudicating authority under OIO No. KDL/COMMR/41/2005 dt 31.3.2005. Appellant was attending to the day-to-day clearance work of the CHA and was authorised by a Power of Attorney for clearance of goods of one Shri....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....p; ii) Hitesh Kumar Patel 2009 (245) ELT.858 (Tri. Ahmd) iii) R K Ispat Udyog - 2007 (211)ELT.460 (Tri. Del) iv) Associated Plastics and Rayons - 2007(210)ELT 524 (Tri. Ahmd) v) Welcome Drus & Pharmaceuticals Ltd - 2007(213)ELT.710(Tri. Del.) vi) Vinod Kumat - 2006 (199) ELT 705 (Tri. Del.) vii) Z.U. Alvi - 2000 (177) ELT.69.9 Tribunal) 6. Shri Alok Srivastava (AR) appearing on behalf of the Revenue argued that Shri Dev Kumar Kapta has played a very active role in the clearance and diversion of goods and has worked as an authorised signatory of the importer and not as a salaried employee of the CHA. He made the Bench go though the statements of Shri Suresh Kumar Bhatia, available in para 8 & 9 of the OIO dt 31/3/2005, to drive home the point that that appellant was well aware of the facts that imported goods cleared under the bills of entry were meant for free distribution among the earthquake victims of Gujarat at the time of import. T....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... accordingly the goods were cleared on 29.9.2001 vide Gate Pass No. 6 and 7 dated 29.09.2001 of M/ Shivam Development Trust, Bhuj, and Gate Pass No. 39 and 40 dated 29.9.2001 of Shri Nopaji Lakhamji Charitable Trust of Mumbai that for the goods cleared vide Lorry Receipt No. 1830 to 1833 of New Standard Roadways Gandhidham the consignee was M/s Radha Yarn P Ltd, Panipat. 9) In his statement dated 11.10.2001 Shi Suresh Bhatia inter-alia stated that he is authorised executive of M/s Kandla Clearing agency and M/s Varsh Exports; that since they have stopped activities for clearance from M/s Kandla Clearing Agency. Shri Shantilal Jain directed him to get the clearance of the goods pertaining to charitable trust in self authorising Shri Dev Kumar Kapta as an authorised signatory of the charitable Trust namely Nopaji Lakhamji Charitable Trust and Shivam Development Trust; that accordingly Shri Dev Kumar Kapta, cleared the goods in self capacity that he was fully aware that the goods imported in the name of Charitable Trusts were meant for free distribution among the Gujarat Earth-quake victims; that however as per the directions of Shri Shantilal Jain and Shri Motilal Saraf, he was ar....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....rmed Shri Suresh Kumar Bhatia, representative of M/s Kandla Clearing Agency, that they had received import documents of two posts M/s Nopaji Lakhamji Charitable Trust and M/s Shivram Development Trust from Motilal Saraf of M/s Radha Yarn Pvt Ltd. Appellant signed as authorised signatory in the Bills of Entry No 8835 and 8836 both dt 25.9.2000, for self clearance. It is also evident from the statement of Shri S K Bhatia that appellant was having the knowledge that the goods cleared under the said Bills of entry were for free distribution among the earthquake victims of Gujarat. As per the statement dt 11.10.2001 of Shri S K Bhatia activities of M/s Kandla Clearing Agency had stopped so Devkumar Kapta (appellant) filed bills of entry in self. After clearance of goods from the customs appellant applied white ink and changed the names of the importers to M/ Radha Yarn and M/s Radha Textiles which were not situated in the state of Gujarat. The zerox copies of the fabricated bills of entry were taken by the appellant and given for transportation through the truck. From the above facts on record, it cannot be said that appellant was a paid employee of M/s Kandla Clearing Agency and was on....
TaxTMI