Customs, Excise and Gold Tribunal - Mumbai
Gokul Refoils And Solvent Ltd. vs Commissioner Of Customs on 26 September, 2003
Equivalent citations: 2003(158)ELT849(TRI-MUMBAI)
ORDER Jyoti Balasundaram, Member (J)
1. The application for waiver of pre-deposit of penalty of Rs. 3 lakhs arises out of the order of the Commissioner of Customs who has directed confiscation of Palm Acid Oil imported by the applicants herein with an option to redeem the same on payment of fine of Rs. 8 lakhs, together with applicable duty, and also imposed penalty as above-mentioned, as a result of misdeclaration of the imported goods which were found not to conform to IS Standards and it was therefore held that the goods were found to be other than as per the description as filed in the bills of entry.
2. We have perused the written submissions filed by the applicant and heard ld. SDR. We find that there is no prima facie substance in the plea that the provisions of Section 23 which provides that duty shall not be required to be paid, if importers have relinquished title to the goods before an order for clearance of the goods for home consumption has been made, apply to penalty. In our view penalty is prima facie imposable and it is independent of the provisions relating to non-liability to duty payment. (It is established that an order for clearance of goods for home consumption was not passed prior to the title being relinquished). We direct pre-deposit of Rs. 1 lakh towards penalty within a period of eight: weeks from today and on such deposit the pre-deposit of balance amount of penalty shall stand waived and recovery thereof stayed pending the appeal. Failure to comply with this direction shall result in vacation of stay and dismissal of the appeal without prior notice.
3. Compliance to be reported on 22-12-2003.