In a ruling against Mannat international, the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Delhi principal bench has held that explanation given on the ground of illness for the condonation on appeal will not sustain without any cogent evidence.
The appellant declared the goods imported by him to be “polyester knitted fabric of different colour and weight” declaring the value thereof as Rs.3698473.01 and Rs.4202865.91 respectively. The goods were found to be undervalued as well as mis-declared and were seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act.
The appellant had agreed to the assessable value of the fabric of both the Bills of Entry based on classification given by the Textile Committee being ascertained from the appropriate mechanism as that of market enquiry/ contemporary import data and agreed to pay the differential duty, redemption fine and penalty. The duty liability of the appellant was assessed at Rs.41,17,590/- whereas the payment made by the appellant was Rs.10,78,691/- and held liable to pay the differential duty to the tune of Rs.30,38,899/-.
The appellant stated that he had failed to provide medical records because his mental critical condition was due to financial pressure because of the impugned Order in Original confirming the duty demand with interest & penalty.
It was observed that the cause/ reason for the delay was mentioned as a critical mental health problem of the appellant, for which the appellant failed to provide medical evidence was provide to Commissioner (Appeals). The Tribunal observed that submissions were insufficient to be called “sufficient cause” for the Condonation of the impugned delay.
Dr. Rachna Gupta, Judicial Member viewed that the explanation in the name of ‘sufficient cause’ should not smack of mala fides or it should not be put forth as a part of the dilatory strategy and held the explanation on the ground of illness as vague. The appeal filed by the assessee was dismissed.
Mr. Prem Ranjan Kumar appeared for the appellant and Mr Ishwar Charan appeared for the department.
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