Legal Provisions - Under Customs Act, 1962 - Central Excise Practice Manual (OLD) - Central Excise

Under Customs Act, 1962 Sub-Section (3) of Section 137 of the Customs Act, 1962 [Inserted vide Section 71 of the Finance Act, 2004 and later amended vide Section 89 of the Finance Act, 2009 ] (3) Any offence under this Chapter may, either before or after the institution of prosecution, be compounded by the Chief Commissioner of Customs on payment, by the person accused of the offence to the Central Government, of such compounding amount and in such manner of compounding as may be specified by rules . Provided that nothing contained in this sub-section shall apply to- (a) a person who has been allowed to compound once in respect of any offence under sections 135 and 135A ; (b) a person who has been accused of committing an offence under this Act which is also an offence under any of the following Acts, namely:- (i) the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985(61 of 1985); (ii) the Chemical Weapons Convention Act, 2000 (34 of 2000); (iii) the Arms Act, 1959 (54 of 1959); (iv) the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (53 of 1972); (c) a person involved in smuggling of goods falling under any of the following, namely:- (i) goods specified in the list of Special Chemicals, Organisms, Materials, Equipment and Technology in Appendix 3 to Schedule 2 (Export Policy) of ITC (HS) Classification of Export and Import Items of the Foreign Trade Policy, as amended from time to time, issued under section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 (22 of 1992) ; (ii) goods which are specified as prohibited items for import and export in the ITC (HS) Classification of Export and Import Items of the Foreign Trade Policy, as amended from time to time, issued under section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 (22 of 1992) ; (iii) any other goods or documents, which are likely to affect friendly relations with a foreign State or are derogatory to national honour; (d) a person who has been allowed to compound once in respect of any offence under this Chapter for goods of value exceeding rupees one crore; (e) a person who has been convicted under this Act on or after the 30th day of December, 2005. Further , clause (h) of sub-section (2) of Section 156 of the Customs Act, 1962 empowers Central Government to make rules, which may provide for the amount to be paid for compounding and the manner of compounding under sub-section (3) of Section 137 of the Customs Act, 1962