TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (2) TMI 963
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.... conditions the imported spices were instead diverted to domestic market. In order to show that the imported spices has been used in processing/ manufacturing of export goods, M/s Aroma International mis-declared the export goods to be 'Spices Powder' whereas the investigations revealed that the same were "Chilli Powder". Accordingly it was proposed to demand duty, imposition of penalty and confiscation of imported and export goods from M/s Aroma International and its Partner. The Appellant M/s Jabs International Pvt. Ltd. at the relevant time were discounting Bills of export of M/s Aroma International and in few cases the goods manufactured by them were exported through M/s Aroma International. M/s Jabs International and its director Shri Bhaskar Bhanuvadan Shah were also made co-noticee and it was proposed to confiscate the goods exported and to impose penalties upon them. The proposal against M/s Jabs International and its director Shri Bhaskar Shah were made on the ground that in respect of 15 export consignments for which the orders has been received by them and which were fulfilled by exports effected by M/s Aroma International, while the goods exported were Chilli po....
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....ceived by M/s Jabs International from the foreign Buyers but the exports were made through M/s Aroma International. He produces the export related documents and submits that as apparent from the said documents which are part of relied upon documents of show cause notice it is apparent that there was no misdeclaration by M/s Jabs International or Shri Bhaskar Shah. All the export documents pertain to M/s Aroma International with no involvement of the Appellants. That their export invoices clearly showed the goods as "Chilli Powder" and even the documents submitted to the bank for collection of export proceeds also described the goods as "Chilli Powder". He submits that it is only M/s Aroma International who has misdeclared the goods in the Shipping Bill as "Spice Powder". 3.1 He submits that Shri Piyush Meghani, Partner of M/s Aroma International who was earlier working with the Appellant as Trainee started his own independent business and thus approached the Appellant M/s Jabs International for getting the export documents discounted as M/s Aroma were facing financial crunch. The Appellants agreed for discounting the export bills at the rate of 2%. Accordingly, upon Aroma Intern....
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....were neither used for export of goods or for discounting of export bills and hence they cannot be held liable for any punitive action. 3.2 The Ld. Counsel has submitted copies of Shipping Bills of export, copy of invoice, mate receipt, bill of lading. He submits that at the time of export all the documents contained description of goods as Chilli Powder only. He submits that as far as confiscation of export goods is concerned the confiscation of 51 export consignments and imposition of redemption fine upon them and M/s Aroma International jointly is concerned, the same is illegal as they were concerned with only 15 export consignments and in those 15 export consignments also they have not made any misdeclaration before customs and no document pertaining to them was filed. That no documents containing misdeclartion of goods was submitted by them or was there documents and hence it cannot be said that they have made any misdeclaration of goods. Therefore they cannot be burdened with fine in lieu of confiscation of export goods. 3.3 He submits that the Commissioner on Page 30 of the impugned Order proceeded on a mere conjecture and surmise by holding that there was some arrangem....
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.... in the alleged diversion/ sale in the local market of the spices imported by Aroma International. 4. Ld. departmental representative on the other hand,? would draw our attention of the findings recorded by the lower authority. He would submit that M/s Jabs has submitted different set of export invoices to the Bank showing goods as Chilli Powder and to the department showing description of goods as Mixed Spices Powder during investigation. That initially Shri Bhaskar Shah has stated that they have discounted 22 documents but later stated that they have discounted 66 consignments of M/s Aroma International. That Shri Piyush Meghani had earlier worked as trainee with M/s Jabs International. Two of the imported consignments of M/s Jabs were sold to M/s Aroma on High Seas sale basis and some of the export consignments were arranged from M/s Jabs. In some cases the amount was paid by M/s Jabs to M/s Aroma International after discounting of bills which shows their relationship and which shows involvement of M/s Jabs International in manipulation of documents. M/s Jabs International helped M/s Aroma in getting factory premises and also arranged local supplies in some cases. There was v....
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....med by them. He submits that the statement given by Shri Bhaskar Shah cannot be basis for alleging misdeclaration as the same is in isolation with no supporting records/ evidence of their contumacious conduct. He submits that only on the basis of statement of Shri Bhaskar Shah in absence of evidence of having made mis-declartion of export goods, he cannot be saddled with penalty. 6. Ld. Counsel appearing for M/s Gandhi Associates would submit that they had not filed any document at the time of export and their all the documents show the goods as "Chilli Powder" only. They had not availed any export benefit. That there is no evidence of them being involved in export of goods by misdeclaring the same and the impugned order is illegal. 7. We have considered the submissions made by both the sides and perused the records. We find that the allegations of misdeclaration of export goods is mainly against M/s Aroma International and its partner who is not in appeal before us. In these appeals we are concerned only with fines and penalties imposed against M/s Jabs International, its director Shri Bhaskar Shah and M/s Gandhi Associates. 7.1 We find from the records that the adjudicat....
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....ds as Spices Powder whereas the copies received from the discounting banks showed such consignments as of "Chilli Powder" , however it is seen that the invoices containing the description of goods were never submitted to any custom authorities at the time of export or to the bank. These documents were not produced before any customs authorities even post export. We find that all the export documents submitted to the authorities at the time of export involving M/s Jabs contained the description of goods as "Chilli Powder" only. We find that the export bills, bill of lading and all documents of those 15 export consignments submitted to the Bank are of Chilli Powder only. In such view of the fact we find that M/s Jabs International had on no occasion misdeclared the goods at the time of exports. 7.3 In case of allegation of valuation of goods as pointed out by the Ld. Advocate we find that the prices of goods stated by Shri Bhaskar Shah in his statement is matching with the prices in bills of exports discounted by the bank, hence in such case it cannot be shown that the excess prices were quoted by the Appellants. We find that Shri Piyush Meghani earlier being trainee at M/s Jabs I....