9911796707
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Issues Involved:
1. Discrepancies in the consignments. 2. Alleged manipulation of the value of the goods. 3. Violation of principles of natural justice. 4. Genuineness of the declared values and invoices. 5. Shortfall in licenses. 6. Appropriateness of fines and penalties. Detailed Analysis: 1. Discrepancies in the consignments: The appellants imported four consignments of Defective CR Low Carbon MS Sheets. Discrepancies were noted in the thickness of the sheets in the consignments, with a small percentage of sheets being thinner than declared. For example, in the consignment by the vessel NADIA, 3 out of 79 bundles contained sheets of thickness 0.6 mm, which was only 3.8% of the total goods. 2. Alleged manipulation of the value of the goods: Customs, through DRI, alleged manipulation by the importers in the value of the goods. Show cause notices were issued based on intelligence that the declared values were lower than the actual values. For instance, for the consignment by Volta-River, the declared value was DM 520 per metric tonne, whereas the correct value was alleged to be DM 759. Similar discrepancies were noted for the other consignments. 3. Violation of principles of natural justice: The appellants argued that there was a violation of the principles of natural justice as they were not allowed to inspect certain documents relied upon by the Department. These included invoices and correspondence between the exporter and other parties. The Department initially claimed privilege over these documents but later disclosed them. The Tribunal concluded that the documents were made available to the appellants at various stages, and therefore, there was no violation of natural justice. 4. Genuineness of the declared values and invoices: The appellants contended that the declared values were correct and included charges by Noordin. They explained that the prices were adjusted based on the actual mix of thicker and thinner sheets in the consignments. They produced credit notes and correspondence to support their claim. However, the Tribunal found that the invoices recovered from Possehl represented the true value of the goods and that the credit notes were an afterthought. The Tribunal upheld the Customs' findings that the declared values were undervalued. 5. Shortfall in licenses: For two shipments (Volta-River and Faethon), there was no finding of any shortfall in licenses. However, for Baarn and Nadia, there was an alleged shortfall of Rs. 4,82,063/- in the licenses when debited with the ascertained value. The Tribunal held that the licenses were correctly debited with the ascertained value of the imported goods, rejecting the appellants' appeal in this regard. 6. Appropriateness of fines and penalties: The Tribunal considered the appellants' plea that the fines were arbitrarily fixed without disclosing the market value. It noted the long duration of the proceedings and the hardships faced by the appellants, including demurrage and deterioration of goods. The Tribunal reduced the fines for three consignments: - Faethon: Reduced to Rs. 1,50,000/- - Baarn: Reduced to Rs. 1,75,000/- - Nadia: Reduced to Rs. 1,60,000/- The fine for Volta-River was upheld at Rs. 2,50,000/-. The penalties imposed by the Collector were found to be reasonable and were upheld. Conclusion: The appeals were partly allowed to the extent of reducing the redemption fines for three consignments. The impugned orders were confirmed in all other respects.
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