The Kolkata bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that penalty cannot be imposed on Customs House Agent (CHA) as they had no role in an overvaluation of goods in export.
United Customs House Agency (Private) Ltd, the appellant assessee the exporter Mahabir Metal had placed two consignments of steel Kitchen Tableware for export to Bangladesh and the assessee had the role of only filing the documents and filing the documents before customs authorities as provided by the exporter.
The assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner of Customs for imposing a penalty of Rs. 10.00,000/-each on the Customs House Agent on the allegation of improper export of goods.
H. K. Pandey, the counsel for the assessee contended that the assessee had the role of filing the documents and filed the documents before customs authorities as provided by the exporter and there was no allegation in the impugned order that they had committed any irregularity in the documents filed by them.
Also submitted that on examination of the seized consignments, it tallied with the invoices and other documents and the assessee cannot be held responsible for overvaluation, if any, done by the exporter for getting excess drawback.
Tariq Suliaman, the counsel for the department relied on the decisions made by the lower authorities and contended that the assessee abetted the over-invoicing of the exports accordingly penalty had been rightly imposed on them.
The Bench observed that no penalty is imposable on the assessee as the Customs House Agent, as they have no role in the alleged offence.
The two-member bench comprising Muralidhar (Judicial) and Anpazhakan (Technical) held that the assessee acted as CHA and Clearing and forwarding agents in the export consignments and their role was restricted to the filing of the documents.
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