2006 (8) TMI 193

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....ffected fraudulent export. The goods concerned were seized on 30th November 2005 and thereafter this Application was filed before the Settlement Commission on 28-4-2006. The Settlement Commission has rejected the Application mainly on the ground that it is premature which can be clearly seen from paragraph 4.6 of the impugned order. The Commission has observed in paragraph 6 thereof that the Applicants are free to make fresh applications, if they so desire on receiving a Show Cause Notice issued by the Revenue indicating the amount of additional duty levied under the Customs Act, 1962 as well as the Central Excise Act, 1944. 4.The submission of the petitioners amongst others is that the petitioners did not get a personal hearing before the....

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.... the Commissioner of Customs under Section 127C(1) of the Customs Act and also to give an opportunity of being heard under the proviso to Section 127C. There can be no dispute with this proposition. However, one cannot fault a preliminary scrutiny by the Commission as to whether the Application satisfies the condition under Section 127B(2). This will be before one refers to Section 127C of the Customs Act. In the present case, all that the Commission has done is to state that this mandatory period of six months had not elapsed and, therefore, the Application was premature. Mr. Shroff then submitted that a Demand Notice had been issued on 20th March 2006 and that should be construed as amongst others a cause for the petitioners to move an Ap....

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.... down that the Settlement Commission shall call for a report from the Commissioner and give a hearing. The judgment undoubtedly states in paragraph 4 and thereafter in paragraph 6 that the provisions have to be followed and natural justice is clearly written in the particular section. Again as is stated earlier, there is no difficulty in observing that this proposition will certainly apply when one refers to Section 125C of the Customs Act. In the instant case, we are concerned with an earlier stage, namely, which requires the Application to be filed only after a period of six months expires. This period is provided for the department to complete its investigation and arrive at a finding whether there is complicity of the applicant or the e....