2021 (12) TMI 795

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....spondent under Sections 114 and 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962. The assessee-respondent has also filed a cross-appeal supporting the findings in the impugned order. 2. Brief undisputed facts, as could be gathered from the orders of the lower authorities, inter alia, are that there was an attempt to export red sanders illegally in the guise of "Polished Granite Slab"; that the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), based on the specific intelligence, seized 13.700 MTs of red sanders valued at Rs. 5.48 crores from container no. TTNU3093730; and that based on investigations conducted, they found an elaborate conspiracy in an attempt to smuggle red sanders logs. The assessee in this case is a Customs Broker. 3. Accordingly, Show Cause....

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....nt seriously contended that the Commissioner (Appeals) had erred in deleting the penalties and further argued inter alia that mens rea was not sine qua non for imposition of penalty under Sections 114 and 114AA ibid., for which proposition he relied on the decision in the cases of: (i) M/s. Oceanic Shipping Agency Pvt. Ltd. v. Collector of Customs, Calcutta [1996 (82) E.L.T. 57 (Tribunal)]; (ii) M/s. Gujarat Travancore Agency v. Commissioner of Income Tax [1989 (42) E.L.T. 350 (S.C.)]; and (iii) Dinesh Chandra Jamna Das Gandhi v. State of Gujarat [1989 (40) E.L.T. 230 (S.C.)]. 6. Per contra, Learned Advocate for the assessee-respondent supported the findings of the First Appellate Authority. He would also refer....

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....er / exporter had been undertaken by the Customs Authorities and therefore, there could be no scope to doubt the identity of the exporter. Further, it was observed by the Hon'ble High Court that when such Code was mentioned, there was a presumption that an appropriate background check would have been done by the Customs Authorities; there was nothing on record to show that the appellant therein had knowledge that the goods mentioned in the shipping bills did not reflect the truth of the consignment sought to be exported and in the absence of such knowledge, there cannot be any mens rea attributed to the appellant or its proprietor. 8. Viewed from this angle, as observed in the impugned order, the Revenue has not made any attempt to attri....