The Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Chennai, has recently in an appeal filed before it, ruled that the penalty imposed on a customs broker under section 112(a) of the Customs Act, should not be so exemplary that it fails to meet the ends of justice.
The ruling of the Tribunal resulted from an appeal filed by the appellant against an order passed by the original authority, imposing a penalty of Rs.5,00,000 on him, under sec. 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962, for the undeclared and counterfeit goods for which Bill of Entry was filed for import clearance.
The aforesaid goods being found to be undeclared and counterfeited, the customs authorities consequently confiscated the same, imposing a penalty Rs.5,00,000 upon the appellant, who despite filing an appeal before the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), failed to get it allowed by him.
The submission of the appellant before the tribunal was that he being a Customs Broker, he has merely filed a document for clearance of the imported goods based upon the documents received by him from a third party, that the Bill of Entry was registered in the EDI system, and that the examination carried out in respect of the said goods proves the importer was in existence, for , a mere non matching of the importers’ GST registration or other particulars, would not establish their non -existence.
It was further argued by the him that as separate proceedings were initiated against him under CBLR, 2018, which culminated by imposing a penalty of Rs.50,000/- a further penalty under the Customs Act, 1962 cannot be imposed and hence that his appeal be allowed by the Tribunal.
“From the discussions made above, I am of the view that there are no grounds to set aside the penalty imposed under sec. 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962 on the appellant. I do note that penalty of Rs.50,000/- has been imposed on the appellant as per Order in Original dated 8.9.2020 under CBLR, 2018, and taking this into consideration, I am of the view that the penalty of Rs. 5,00,000/- imposed under section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962 is high, and requires to be reduced. I hold that reducing the penalty to Rs.1,50,000/- (Rupees one lakh fifty thousand only) would meet the ends of justice, and hence, the impugned order is modified to the extent of reducing the penalty to Rs.1,50,000/- (Rupees one lakh fifty thousand only)” –Ms. Sulekha Beevi C.S., the Judicial member of CESTAT, Chennai, commented, allowing the appeal in part.
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