Customs, Excise and Gold Tribunal - Mumbai
Dhanlaxmi Garments Pvt. Ltd. And Sanjay ... vs Commissioner Of Customs And Central ... on 15 September, 2003
Equivalent citations: 2003(158)ELT390(TRI-MUMBAI)
ORDER Jyoti Balasundaram, Member (J)
1. The applicants for waiver of pre-deposit of duty of Rs. 30,37,059/- and penalty of Rs. 3,00,000/- imposed upon M/s. Dhanlaxmi Garments Pvt. Ltd., and penalty of Rs. 2,00,000/- imposed upon its Director arise out of the order of the Commissioner of Central Excise & Customs, Surat, by which he has confiscated 47956 yards of imported processed fabrics found in excess in the factory of Dhanlaxmi Garments Pvt. Ltd., with option to redeem the same on payment of fine along with payment of duty as mentioned above on clearances of the fabrics and imposed penalties for contravention of relevant rules of the amounts set out herein above.
2. We have heard both sides. The issue of waiver of pre-deposit of duty does not arise at this stage as the goods are still in the custody of customs authorities and have not been cleared by the applicants. Therefore we are confining our order to waiver of pre-deposit of penalty. The submission of the applicants that this excess detected is required to be set off against the shortage detected earlier and for which a notice was issued on 19/01/2001 is prima facie, not acceptable as it is brought to our notice by the learned DR that the shortage detected earlier was of ladies gowns i.e., final products that are not made out of the variety of fabrics found in excess in the present case and further in the face of the denial of the job workers of the receipt of any T-shirts or other ready made garments which were despatched to job workers which has been relied upon by the applicant to explain shortage in the earlier case. There is also statement of Shri Sanjay Goyal, Director of the company admitting the excess. The matter is highly debatable. Having regard to the fact that the goods are still with the department and the plea of financial hardship we waive the pre-deposit of penalty imposed upon the company and stay recovery thereof pending its appeal. We direct pre-deposit of Rs. 20,000/- towards the penalty by the Director of the company having regard to the statement admitting the excess stock, subject to such deposit the pre-deposit of the balance penalty shall stand waived and recovery thereof stayed pending his appeal. Time for pre-deposit is 12 weeks from today.
3. Failure to comply with the above direction for pre-deposit shall result in vacation of stay and dismissal of appeals without any prior notice.
4. Compliance to be reported on 31/12/2003.