The Bangalore bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that the illegal import of goods without a valid license is liable for confiscation under section 111 of the Customs Act,1962.
K Kiran Tyres, the appellant assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner for disposing of the stay petition and application for amendment of the stay petition as infructuous and imposed redemption penalties for confiscation of goods.
Bharat Chugh and Sanyat Lodha, the counsels for the assessee contended that the assessee was not involved in the alleged fraudulent activity of preparing an import license and only on bona fide belief regarding the genuineness of the license, goods were imported.
Further submitted that without any admissible evidence or allegations, the Commissioner (Appeals) had considered the record of the assessee while dismissing the appeal filed by the assessee.
Rajesh Shastry, the counsel for the revenue relied on the decisions made by the lower authorities and contended that there was no reason to show leniency on the assessee since he was the beneficiary of the fraud though conducted by the consultant on his behalf.
The bench observed that the assessee was is not involved in the fraudulent activity and the goods imported by the assessee were illegally imported without a valid license for that reason, the goods are liable for confiscation and the imposition of a redemption fine was reasonable for the omission on the part of the assessee to produce valid import license for clearing the goods.
A single-member bench comprising P. A Augustian (Judicial) upheld the order of confiscation of goods and reduced the redemption penalty while partly allowing the appeal filed by the assessee.
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