TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (8) TMI 31
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....2024 was issued to the Appellant proposing revocation of the Customs Broker Licence, forfeiture of security deposit and imposition of penalty alleging violation of Regulations 10(d), 10(e), 10(m) and 10(n) of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018. The allegations emanate from exports made by M/s Gravity Impex Pvt. Ltd. through Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House (JNCH), Nhava Sheva, wherein the exporter was alleged to have overvalued export goods with a view to avail undue benefits under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) and Duty Drawback Scheme. 2.2. The Appellant submitted that they have acted merely as a Customs Broker and filed export documents on the basis of documents furnished by the exporter. The shipping bills were assessed by Customs officers and Let Export Orders were issued after examination and clearance by the Customs authorities. Accordingly, the Appellant denied all the allegations made in the Notice. 2.3. On adjudication, the Ld. Adjudicating Authority passed the impugned Order-in-Original dated 08.12.2025 revoking the licence, forfeiting the security deposit and imposing penalty primarily relying upon the findings recorded in another adjud....
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....LR, 2018. In the absence of a valid 'Offence Report" as contemplated under Regulation 17, we observe that the revocation proceedings initiated in the present case under CBLR, 2018 are not sustainable. 6.1. Further, we find that the Ld. Adjudicating authority has placed his reliance upon the findings recorded in separate proceedings against the exporter for the purpose of revocation of the Customs Broker Licence. There is no evidence brought on record showing connivance, knowledge or involvement of the Appellant in the alleged overvaluation. We observe that a Customs Broker cannot be expected to function as an investigating agency and verify whether the valuation adopted by the Appellant for the goods exported are proper or not. The Customs Broker filed export documents before the Customs authorities on the basis of the documents furnished by the exporter. In the present case, we find that the shipping bills were assessed by Customs officers and Let Export Orders were issued after examination and clearance by the Customs authorities. Later, if the goods exported were found to be overvalued with a view to avail undue benefits under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) ....
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....cause upon inspection of the goods they did not corroborate with what was declared in the shipping bills, cannot be deemed as misdeclaration by the CHA because the said document was filed on the basis of information provided to it by M/s. H.M. Impex, which had already been granted an IE Code by the DGFT. The grant of the IE Code presupposes a verification of facts etc. made in such application with respect to the concern or entity. If the grant of such IE Code to a non-existent entity at the address WZ-156, Madipur, New Delhi - 63 is in doubt, then for such erroneous grant of the IE Code, the appellant cannot be faulted. The IE Code is the proof of locus standi of the exporter. The CHA is not expected to do a background check of the exporter/client who approaches it for facilitation services in export and imports. Regulation 13(e) of the CHALR, 2004 requires the CHA to: "exercise due diligence to ascertain the correctness of any information which he imparts to a client with reference to any work related to clearance of cargo or baggage" (emphasis supplied). The CHAs due diligence is for information that he may give to its client and not necessarily to do a background check of eithe....
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....transaction. It is a processing agent of documents with respect of clearance of goods through Customs House and that process only such authorised personnel of the CHA can enter the Custom House area.-- It would be far too onerous to expect the CHS to enquire into and verify the genuineness of the ID code given to it by client for each import export transaction. When such code is mentioned, there is a presumption that an appropriate background check in this regard that is the KYC would have been done by the customs authority." 22. The appellant has relied upon the registration certificate issued by the appropriate authority, it is an error of the authority issuing registration, if and when the firm does not exist. There is nothing on record to indicate the role of the Customs Brokers in getting the various certificates issued. It is particularly noteworthy that all the documents referred for substantiation of the KYC are all issued by government organisations. Unless, all the officers of various organisations who issued the registration and the necessary documents, either acted fraudulently or carelessly in connivance with the Customs Broker, the letter cannot be faulted up....
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....spect to other documents such as PAN card (issued by the Income Tax Department). When a document is issued by a Government authority, it is reasonable to presume it to be valid. It is not open to the appellant to question the issue of these documents and as a Customs Broker to sit in judgement over the decisions of these officers. If the verification reports are true and none of the exporters existed at their premises, the irresistible conclusion is that all these officers of various departments have been either extremely careless or were operating under flawed system which allowed documents to be issued to non-existing business. 19. It would have been a different matter if the documents produced by the appellant were fake or forged and were not issued by the officers. Such is not the case. In fact, the entire investigation by DGARM was initiated based on the GSTIN issued to various assesses as available in its system. Therefore, there is no possibility of the GSTIN being not issued by the department because it was extracted from its own system. Similarly, the Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) is an essential field for filing any Shipping Bill in the Customs EDI system and we f....