The New Delhi bench of the Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal ( CESTAT ), upheld the confiscation of tyres without Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) markings under Section 111 of the Customs Act, 1962.
In this case, the appellant, Sai Enterprises, is engaged in importing and trading on “stock lot tyres of various makes and sizes, including “off-road tyres.
The appellant made an import of 3,066 tyres, declared “Off the Road Tyres,” which were later found to be passenger car radial and commercial truck tyres without mandatory BIS certifications.
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It is to be noted that discrepancies were found by the customs authorities in the declared and actual quantities. It was noted that although the appellant had declared 1,694 tyres in their import documents, investigations revealed 2,429 tyres.
Interestingly, during the inquiry proceedings, the proprietor, Suryajeet Singh, admitted that the misdeclaration was intentional to evade customs duty.
The tyres’ value was assessed by the officials at Rs. 1.92 Crore and noted that as their import was made without BIS certification, it comes under the category of “prohibited goods” under Section 2( 33 ) of the Customs Act.
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The adjudicating authority ordered absolute confiscation of the goods under Section 111 of the Customs Act, due to misdeclaration, violation of import norms, and public safety concerns. The adjudicating authority imposed penalties, which totalled to Rs. 35 lakh, on the appellant.
CESTAT noted that Section 17 of the BIS Act, 2016 prohibits the manufacture, import, distribute,
sell, hire, lease, store, or exhibit for sale any goods or articles without standard mark.
The tribunal held that the goods (tyres) imported by the appellant without any BIS markings being in violation of the statutory provisions are not permissible to be imported, and hence they are liable for confiscation under Section 111 of the Customs Act.
The CESTAT, comprising Binu Tamta ( Judicial Member ) and P.V. Subba Rao ( Technical Member ) dismissed the appeal filed by the assessee.
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