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Commissioner Of Customs vs Shri Shanker Rice @ Oil Mills on 11 November, 2009

                  IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
                                     MA No.382 of 2007
                  COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, PATNA, C.R.BUILDING, B.C.
                  PATEL PATH, PATNA
                                         .....RESPONDENT---APPELLANT
                                       Versus
                  SHRI SHANKER RICE & OIL MILLS AT & P.O. SITAMARHI,
                  BIHAR.
                                        ....APPELLANT---RESPONDENT
                                     -----------

6.   11.11.2009

Heard Mr. Sanjay Kumar for the appellant, and learned counsel for the respondent. This appeal under section 130 of the Customs Act,1962, is directed against the order dated 14.02.2007, passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkatta, in Customs Appeal No. CDM-80 of 2003 (M/s Shri Shankar Rice & Oil Mills Vs. Commissioner of Customs, Patna), whereby the appeal preferred by the present respondent has been allowed, and Adjudication Order No.12-CC/ADJ/2003, dated 31.01.2003, passed by the Commissioner of Customs, Patna, has been set aside.

We have perused the materials on record and considered the submissions of the learned counsel for the parties. It appears that the learned Tribunal has disposed of the matter in a most perfunctory manner. The Tribunal is hereby reminded that it is a forum of facts and is, therefore, duty-bound to examine all issues of facts and law which arise before it, and is the sine-qua non for creation of any statutory Tribunal. Reference may be made to the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of -2- Commissioner of Central Excise, Bangalore Vs. Srikumar Agencies and Ors. 2009 (l) Supreme Court Cases 469. We are, therefore, of the view that the impugned order falls far short of the requirements and is unsustainable in law.

In the result, the order dated 14.02.2007, passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkatta, in Customs Appeal CDM-80 of 2003 is hereby set aside, and the matter is remitted to the Tribunal to dispose of the said Custom Appeal No. CDM.80/2003 in accordance with law. The Tribunal shall keep in view the judgment of this Court in the Case M/s Kumar Sain Traders Vs. Union of India 2005 (2) PLJR 744, as well as the order dated 04.05.2005 (Annexure-

3), passed by the same Bench in MJC No.973 of 2001(M/s Hillman Woolen Co. Vs. The Union of India & Ors.).

The appeal is accordingly allowed.

                                  ( S. K. Katriar )



hr                              ( Kishore K. Mandal )