TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (9) TMI 415
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....filed by the respondent Atul Kishore Guglani have been allowed and the impugned orders passed by the Joint Commissioner of Customs insofar as they relate to the imposition of penalty upon Atul Kishore Guglani have been set aside. 2. It transpires from the records that the Joint Commissioner had imposed penalty upon Atul Kishore Guglani under section 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962 [the Customs Act]. This finding of the Joint Commissioner is based on a statement made by Shiv Kumar Agarwal, Noticee No. 1 under section 108 of the Customs Act that he had purchased the scrips on the advice of Atul Kishore Guglani, which scrips were found to have been issued by mistake by the officer while registering the scrips. The request of Atul Kishore Gug....
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.... established to have accrued to the appellant. There is not an iota of evidence that the appellant was concerned with fraudulent registration of scrip at any port. There is no evidence to prove that the Appellant was engaged in fraudulently registration of the scrips or he received any pecuniary gain from utilization of the said scrips. 5.9. I also note that there is not an iota of evidence that the appellant was concerned with fraudulent registration of scrip at Nhava Sheva Port or he had knowledge that scrip was fraudulently registered at that port. Since the scrip was appearing in EDI system and there was no doubt about its genuineness, no malafide could be attributed to the appellant." 5. It is seen from the order passed by ....
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....er during the course of any inquiry or proceeding shall be relevant for the purpose of proving the truth of the facts which it contains only when the person who made the statement is examined as a witness before the Court and such Court is of the opinion that having regard to the circumstances of the case, the statement should be admitted in evidence, in the interests of justice, except where the person who tendered the statement is dead or cannot be found. In view of the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 9D of the Central Excise Act or sub-section (2) of section 138B of the Customs Act, the provisions of sub-section (1) of these two Acts shall apply to any proceedings under the Central Excise Act or the Customs Act as they apply in ....
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.... persons are examined as witnesses before the adjudicating authority and the adjudicating authority forms an opinion that the statements should be admitted in evidence. It is thereafter that an opportunity has to be provided for cross-examination of such persons. The provisions of section 9D of the Central Excise Act and section 138B(1)(b) of the Customs Act have been held to be mandatory and failure to comply with the procedure would mean that no reliance can be placed on the statements recorded either under section 14D of the Central Excise Act or under section 108 of the Customs Act. The Courts have also explained the rationale behind the precautions contained in the two sections. It has been observed that the statements recorded during ....