The Kolkata bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) quashed the penalty imposed on confiscation of spare parts of goods for non-compliance of post import regulations on the ground of insufficient evidence.
Nortech Power Projects Private Limited, the appellant assessee imported two numbers of turbines, two numbers of generators, 1 number of hydraulic unit and one digital tribune control i.e. spare parts for each of the two projects, got registered by them with the department to be installed at Yapak Nallah MHS and Dus Nallah MHS for initial setting up of mini hydro electric power plant and the goods were imported vide Bill of Entry under Project Import Registration.
The assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) for confiscation of the goods for non-compliance with the post-import conditions of the Project Import Regulations and imposition of penalty on the assessee.
K.Sanyal, the counsel for the assessee contended that first place issuance of the Show Cause Notice in itself was grossly misplaced and misdirected and disallowing the benefit of the project import regulations and the concessional rate of duty was certainly an error of judgment.
Faiaz Ahmed, the counsel for the department relied on the decisions made by the lower authorities and contended that the assessee was liable for the penalty imposed for the confiscation of goods.
The Bench observed that claiming a refund of the legitimate amount due to them, was no favor being solicited from the department but seeking back what rightly belongs to the assessee. It is clear that the assessee submitted all required documents to the department as early as 05.05.2005 and there was no case made out in support of the adjudication order passed by the Commissioner.
The two-member bench comprising Ashok Jindal (Judicial) and Rajeev Tandon (Technical) quashed the penalty imposed against the assessee while allowing the appeal filed by the assessee.
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