TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (10) TMI 70
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....ouse, New Delhi [the Commissioner], holding that the appellant is not entitled to claim the benefit of the exemption notification no. 61 of 2007 dated 03.05.2007 [the exemption notification] that amended the earlier exemption notification no. 21 of 2022 dated 01.03.2002 on the import of twine engine light weight Aircraft Type Cessna 525A Citation CJ2+, Registration No. VT-BRT, MSN-525A0373 [Aircraft BRT ] through Bill of Entry No. 226584 dated 17.12.2007. 2. The Commissioner has confirmed Customs Duty demand of Rs. 06,22,67,295/- along with a penalty of Rs. 03,00,00,000/- under section 112 of the Customs Act, 1962 [the Customs Act]. The Commissioner has also ordered for confiscation of the Aircraft BRT under section 111 (o) of t....
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.... (B) in the Annexure, after Condition No. 102 and the entries relating thereto, the following Conditions shall be inserted, namely:- xxxxxxxxxx 104. (i) the aircraft are imported by an operator who has been granted approval by the competent authority in the Ministry of Civil Aviation to import aircraft for providing non-scheduled (passenger) services or non-scheduled (charter) services; and (ii) the importer furnishes an undertaking to the Deputy Commissioner of Customs or Assistant Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, at the time of importation that:- a. the said aircraft shall be used only for providing non-scheduled (passenger) services or non-scheduled (charter) services, as the case may be; and b. he shall pay on dema....
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....ould also state that the importer shall pay on demand, the duty payable, in the event of his failure to use the imported aircraft for the specified purpose. 5. The appellant is a public limited company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1956 since the year 1988 and claims to be engaged since 1997 in the manufacture and operation of aircrafts for charter hire under valid permits given by the Director General of Civil Aviation [DGCA]. The appellant is engaged in providing non-scheduled services of transportation of persons by air to various customers on remuneration basis since 1997. The appellant was issued a non-scheduled operators permit [NSOP] (passenger) on 07.11.1997, which permit has since been renewed from time to time....
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....ose of NSOP services; (iii) The undertaking given as per exemption notification is only to operate NSOP (passenger) services and for which the appellant has not been issuing 'tickets' to individuals; (iv) The operation of Aircraft BRT cannot qualify as charter services also in absence of 'a published tariff'; (v) The Aircraft BRT was only used within the same group/associated companies under long term lease contract and the same was not publicly available to others for hire; (vi) Non-violation of NSOP permit issued by the DGCA by the appellant is irrelevant and the Department has jurisdiction to take action for violation of the undertaking given by the appellant at the time of import and which was for undertaking NSOP (passenger) se....
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....rger Bench of the Tribunal in the order dated 08.08.2022 in favour of the appellant; (ii) In M/s. Reliance Commercial Dealers Ltd. vs. Commissioner of Customs, (Preventive) New Customs House, Delhi [Customs Appeal No. 639 of 2010 decided on 08.09.2022], a Division Bench of the Tribunal followed the order dated 08.08.2022 of the Larger Bench; and (iii) Even on the basis of undisputed facts notes in the order passed by the Commissioner, it is clear that the Aircraft BRT has been strictly used in terms of the permit granted by the DGCA and the said Aircraft was used for remuneration purposes only. 11. The submissions advanced by the learned senior counsel for the appellant deserve to be accepted as the issues raised in this appeal has bee....
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....cheduled (charter) services and there is no restriction on the same. The exemption notification or the CAR do not prohibit a non-scheduled (passenger) service permit holder to use the aircraft for charter operations. This is for the reason that: (a) NSOP (passenger) is a much wider category and specifically includes charter operations in which the entire aircraft is given for hire or reward by charging remuneration from the hirer; (b) Where the regulatory requirements under the CARs itself permit the NSOP (passenger) holder to carry out charter operations, it would not be correct on the part of the department to contend that NSOP (passenger) holder cannot carry out charter operations and that these services are mutually exclusive; (c)....