TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2015 (7) TMI 882
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....on vide shipping bill No. 4339055 dated 2-6-2006 wherein the goods under export were declared as "furniture wood." On examination, it was found that the goods were in fact "red sanders wood", an item banned for export. M/s Ajay Clearing House, the CHA, had filed the shipping bill on behalf of the exporter M/s Angel Impex by declaring the goods under export as "wood furniture" valued at Rs. 1,26,927.60. On examination of the consignment, the goods were found to be 10000 Kgs. of red sanders wood valued at Rs. 75 lakhs which were seized for further proceedings. On investigation, it was found that the CHA had not met the exporter nor did he know him and the export documents were received from Mr. Baburao K Chinta of Max Shipping Services, a freight forwarder, who had signed the documents on behalf of the exporter M/s Angel Impex. The exporter firm was also found to be fictitious. Accordingly inquiry proceedings were initiated against the CHA under the provisions of CHALR 2004 and charges were imputed against the CHA of contravening Regulation 13 (a) of not obtaining proper authorisation from the exporter before undertaking the transaction, Regulation 13(d) not advising the client to co....
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....sufficient and the penalty of revocation of licence was set aside. Reliance is also placed on a few decisions of this Tribunal in the case of K.S. Sawant & Co. [2012 (284) ELT 363], Dominic & Co. [2013 (296) ELT 494] and Sainath Clearing Agency [2011 (269) ELT 106]. 3.3 It is also contended that the inquiry proceedings were not conducted properly and the appellant was not given adequate opportunity to make their submissions. In the light of the above, it is pleaded that the impugned order revoking the CHA licence be set aside. 4. The ld. Dy. Commissioner (AR) appearing for the Revenue re-iterates the findings of the adjudicating authority. He submits that in the present case, the goods sought to be exported were 'red sanders' an endangered plant species and a banned item and therefore, the gravity of the offence is quite grave. Further the exporting firm was found to be fictitious and the appellant was not able to produce the exporter before the customs authorities during investigation. The evidence available on record clearly shows the connivance of the CHA in the illegal export of a banned item. Further in the customs proceedings pertaining to the said transaction, a....
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....h Charatkar, Manager of the appellant CHA has admitted that he had obtained the authorisation for export from the freight forwarder M/s Max Shipping Services and not from the exporter. Shri. Baburao k Chinta, the proprietor of M/s Max Shipping Services has admitted that he did not obtain any declaration from the exporter but had signed the export documents himself. Both the CHA as well as the freight forwarder had failed to produce the exporter before the Customs authorities when they were called upon to do so. Efforts made to serve summons to the exporter Mr. Rizwan Yakub Qureshi, Proprietor of M/s Angel Impex at the declared address at Arsiwala Compound, Mazgaon, Mumbai, revealed that the said premises were occupied by some other persons and M/s Angel Impex did not exist at the said address. These evidences produced by the investigation clearly establish the fact that the exports were undertaken in a fictitious name. The export goods on examination were found to be 'red sanders wood' which is a banned item being a protected species. Therefore, it is clear that the appellant CHA had completely failed in following the CHALR provisions. Thus the contravention of regulation 13(a)....
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....horisation from the exporter, the customs clearance work was carried out by persons other than the employees of the CHA and so on. However, the goods involved therein were not prohibited/banned goods and the exporter was also not fictitious. Therefore, considering the breach as technical violations and considering the fact the CHA was a first time offender, a lenient view was taken in the facts of the said case. That is not the situation obtaining in the present case. Here is a case where the goods sought to be exporter were banned items. The exporter was found to be fictitious and not existing in the address given. Thus the facts are different and distinguishable. As regards the reliance on Ashiana Cargo Services decided by the hon'ble High Court of Delhi, in the said case there was a concurrent finding by the Licensing authority and the Tribunal that the CHA did not have knowledge that illegal exports and smuggling of narcotics was effected using G cards given to the employees of another firm. In that context, it was held that revocation is not justified. In the facts of the case before us, it is the appellant's Manager who was found abetting the illegal exports of a bann....
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....es [2011 (268) ELT 448 (A.P.)], wherein also the license was sub-let and no authorizations were obtained from the exporters, the hon'ble AP High Court upheld the punishment of revocation of CHA licence by holding that in a Customs area, it is the Commissioner who is responsible for the happenings, discipline to be maintained and he is best placed to understand the importance of CHA and if he takes a decision for that purpose CESTAT should not interfere on the basis of its own notions of difficulties likely to be faced by the CHA or its employees and should not be swayed by considerations of mis-placed sympathy. The hon'ble Bombay High Court in the Commissioner of Customs vs. Worldwide Cargo Movers [2010 (253) ELT 190 (Bom)], while dealing with a case relating to smuggling of cars, held as follows:- "17 .......................We are conscious that the punishment has to be commensurate with the misconduct and that by revocation the respondent and its employees are going to suffer. At the same time, we cannot forget that though it is the right of a citizen to carry on his business or profession, it is subject to reasonable restrictions and conditions. In the present case, t....