The New Delhi bench of the Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal ( CESTAT ) has upheld the imposition of a Rs. 44.15 lakh penalty on the assessee for evading anti-dumping duty by misdeclaration of goods.
Based on the intelligence reports about evasion of anti-dumping duty, the customs authorities initiated a detailed examination of the imported consignment of the assessee, which were declared as P.S. printing plates.
Know How to Investigate Books of Accounts and Other Documents, Click Here
During the inspection, authorities found that the goods were actually CTCP printing plates, a type subject to anti-dumping duties. Since government labs lacked the necessary facilities, the samples were sent to Don Bosco Technical Institute for testing. The results confirmed the goods were CTCP printing plates.
The adjudicating authority ordered confiscation under Section 111(m) of the Customs Act, 1962 and imposed anti-dumping duty along with a penalty of the same amount.
The assessee’s counsel contended that tests were conducted without consent, using improper methods.The counsel also contended that the P.S. plates had a shelf life of 18 months, and the samples were tested on 20.02.2017, which is after the expiry period, and thus pleaded that the test results were unreliable.
Know How to Investigate Books of Accounts and Other Documents, Click Here
The bench was of the view that goods characteristics remained unchanged regardless of their expiration date and held that the test results by Don Bosco were not faulty.
CESTAT also observed that the appellant did not participate in several hearings and did not exercise their right to retest the samples provided.
The CESTAT comprising Binu Tamta ( Judicial member ) and P.V. Subba Rao ( Technical Member )upheld the confiscation of the goods under Section 111(m) of the Customs Act, along with the imposition of a penalty equivalent to the anti-dumping duty under Section 114A of the Act.
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates
