9911796707
|
Home
Issues involved: Import of goods, warehousing, duty demand, interest, auction of goods, right to relinquish title, penalty imposition.
Import of goods and duty demand: The respondents imported mechanisms for domestic appliances with electric motors and warehoused them. After the bond period expired, a duty demand of &8377; 1,36,717/- was issued. Subsequently, a fresh demand of &8377; 4,01,496/- was made after the goods were disposed of for &8377; 26,000. The High Court set aside the initial demand and ordered a fresh show cause notice. The importers sought to relinquish title to the goods under Section 23 of the Customs Act, but the demand was confirmed and a penalty of &8377; 45,000/- was imposed. Right to relinquish title and penalty imposition: The Commissioner (Appeals) accepted the request for relinquishment and reduced the penalty to &8377; 10,000/-. The Tribunal remanded the case to establish facts based on principles from a previous apex court decision. The Commissioner (Appeals) held that the importers were entitled to relinquish the title to the goods, leading to an appeal by the Revenue. Judgment: The Tribunal dismissed the appeal without delving into the right to relinquish title issue. Citing a previous case, it noted that since the imported goods had been auctioned off by the CWC during the case, the duty demand, interest, and penalty could not be sustained due to the unavailability of the goods. Therefore, the duty demand, interest, and penalty were set aside, and the appeal was dismissed without expressing a view on the applicability of Section 23 (2) of the Customs Act to the case.
|
