TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (10) TMI 507
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....me was inspected on 30th October, 2012 and the said bill of entry was filed by the Customs House Clearing Agent - M/s Dilip Kumar Thakur on behalf of the importer. The inspection of the consignment revealed that cigarettes of foreign origin were concealed in the declared cargo of mattresses and the total value of the said cigarettes was to the tune of Rs. 3,40,74,000/-. 4. Thereafter, a Show Cause Notice (hereinafter, 'SCN') was issued on 23rd April, 2013. Vide Order-in-Original dated 06th September, 2017, a penalty to the tune of Rs. 50 lakhs was imposed by the Original Authority upon three persons, including the two Appellants herein, namely Sh. Shakti Nath Jha, Sh. Sushil Kumar Sharma, and Sh. Shekhar, who were the Appellants before the CESTAT. The operative portion of the said Order-in-Original passed by the Original Authority reads as under: "38.1 The goods as detailed in table 2 in para 10 above are liable for confiscation under section 111(d) and section 111 (m) of the Customs Act, 1962. Since no claimant has come forward to claim these goods they are confiscated absolutely. 38.2 Penalty as indicated in table below imposed on Noticee 1 to 7 under the pro....
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....handling the clearance work of their CHA firm. It was their responsibility to ensure that no unwarranted person make use of the CHA firm for clearing mis-declared or contravened goods. We find that both these appellants have failed in ensuring the clean credentials of the importer M/s Digital Exports and, therefore, we are of the opinion that the penalty under Section112 (a) & (b) of the Customs Act, 1962 has rightly been imposed on both of them. However, considering their financial condition and the fact that they are paid employees with limited means we reduce the quantum of penalty from Rs. 50 lakhs to Rs. 10 lakhs on each. The penalty on Shri Shakti Nath Jha is waived. The impugned order-in-original stands modified to above effect." 6. It is this order passed by CESTAT which is under challenge by both the Appellants. Ld. Counsel for the Appellants has vehemently urged that these two persons, i.e., Sh. Shekhar and Sh. Sushil Kumar Sharma were mere salaried employees of the Customs House Agents (hereinafter, 'CHA') and their role was quite limited in nature. Ld. Counsel for the Appellants submits that they are unable to afford the penalty which is being imposed by CESTAT. Henc....
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....ranspired from various statements of all, the accused persons that Shri Shekhar in connivance with Shri Navin Kumar was also instrumental in clearance of the previous two consignments of M/s Digital Exports in the month of August 2012 and October 2012. Shri Shekhar was fully aware that everything with the present consignment was not legal as Shri Navin Kumar has asked him to keep the name of importer as well as others as a secret. It has also come out from various statements that Shri Shekhar has discussed the clearance of the present' consignment as well as previous two consignments with Shri Sushil Sharma and thus it appears. that both were aware about the sensitivity of the cargo which is being handled by them. It is also a matter of record that the main person who is holding the CHA license was not even aware about the fact that such consignments of M/s Digital Exports are being cleared under the CHA firm name and the import clearance details were not being recorded in their (CHA) statutory records. This has primarily dropped because Shri Shekhar and Sushil Sharma has not declared to their employer about the clearances of M/s Digital Exports with an objective to keep the sa....
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....consignment of M/s Digital Exports was concerned as he has been informed about the sensitivity of the matter by Shri Navin Kumar. Shri Sushil Sharma being responsible person of the CHA firm was also informed by Shri Shekhar about sensitive nature of consignment of M/s Digital Exports, however, both of them has willingly accepted the clearing work of M/s Digital Exports and did what was required for attempted clearance of the smuggled cargo. 8. From all the statement which have been recorded during the course of investigation, we find that element of connivance in the smuggling on the part of above-mentioned three appellants Is clearly absent. We also find that all the three employees, though they have been handling the work of clearance of imported consignments it appears that they are salaried employees of the CHA firm and thus people of limited financial capability and means. 9. In view of above, we are of opinion that so far as Shri Shakti Nath Jha is concerned, we find that he was not at all involved with or informed about the seized consignment and its attempted clearance and, therefore, we fully waive the penalty which has been imposed on him. So far as Shri....