The Kolkata bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) upheld the penalty imposed for the import of car electronic goods on the ground of illegal undervaluation of imported goods.
John Miranda and Rakesh Magoo, the appellant assessee imported electronic goods viz, Car audio items ie, Car speakers, CD Players, Amplifiers, etc through Kolkata Port.
The assesees appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner for confirming the demand of Customs Duty along with penalty.
Samir Chakraborty and Abhijit Biswas, the counsels for the assessee’s contended that the demand of duty from the assessees was un-sustainable ex-facie being contrary to Section 28 of the Customs Act, 1962.
Further submitted that in the terms of the impugned order itself, the importer was Creative Enterprises and Surya Trading Company and per the provisions of the Act, duty not paid or short paid or not levied or short levied erroneously refunded can be demanded and recovered only from the importer within the meaning of Section 2 (26) of the Customs Act.
Tariq Suleiman, the counsel for the department contended that the imported car electronic goods and undervaluation of their assessable value and the differential amount had been paid through illicit means by the assessee and the penalty imposed by the department was as per the law and liable to be sustained.
The Bench observed that the assessee’s were using Importer Exporter Codes (IEC) of various IEC holders for the import of car electronic goods by under-valued the same and the differential amount had also been paid to the overseas suppliers through their office in India by illicit means.
The two-member bench comprising Ashok Jindal (Judicial) and K.Anpazhakan (Technical) upheld the penalty imposed for being actively involved in the import of the impugned goods and undervalued the imported goods.
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