9911796707
TMI Blog1989 (3) TMI 285X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stoms Act, 1962. 2. The facts in brief are that on information the Headquarters Preventive Unit of Madras Central Excise Collectorate inspected 3 gunny covered cases lying in the outward parcel office of the Madras Central Station on 27-8-1982, which led to the recovery of 46,648 Nos. YKK Nylon zip fasteners. The outer covers of the said 3 cases bore the words S.M. Mehta, New Delhi . Since nobody came forward to claim the goods and there was no information available as to who brought the consignments for booking, the goods were seized by the officers for action under the Customs Act on the reasonable belief that they were imported in contravention of law. Subsequent to the seizure, Shri Subudhinath, partner of R.S. Enterprises of Madras, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... held by the Collector of Customs (Appeals), Madras. 3. Shri Suganchand Jain, the learned counsel appearing for the appellant, contended that the Collector (Appeals) in his order had held that the provisions of Section 123 of the Customs Act under which the onus to prove that the goods are not contraband is on the party would apply to the goods which is incorrect, because the goods had been seized in this case in 1982 whereas Nylon zip fasteners were notified under Section 123 and Section 11B of the Customs Act only in July, 1984. Further, the learned counsel pointed out that the finding of the Deputy Collector that the goods under confiscation are of Japanese origin is not supported by the mahazar. Therefore, it cannot be said by the Depa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... in this case the seizure of the goods took place on 27-8-1982 whereas the appellant herein as the purchaser of the zip fasteners never made any claim directly before the Customs Department immediately on coming to know of the seizure. Again, his agent in Madras for taking delivery of the zips, according to his version, and sending it by rail to Delhi is Shri Subudhinath Jain. This gentleman appears to have entrusted the task of booking a large quantity of foreign zips of high value to his coolie, and says that even though the coolie had been asked to make the booking on 27-8-1982, and even though the coolie did not report back to him about having done the job for days afterwards, he never became anxious. According to his version, only on 2- ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pancies between their copy of the invoice and that in the possession of the appellant. The appellant has contended that the finding of the Deputy Collector that the offending goods are Japanese origin is not supported by mahazar, which does not mention any country of origin, and it has also been pointed out that such zip fasteners are manufactured in Singapore also. However, it seems that this is not the only reason for not accepting the invoice by the lower authorities, because it is seen that the adjudicating authority has pointed out that the import invoice produced by M/s. Goyals, Madras, mentioned stock lots of various types of zip fasteners, and did not contain details like brand name, whereas the offending goods clearly bore the bran ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d made payments throughbank for the purchases which shows the genuineness of the transaction. What has been produced, for the first time before the Tribunal, is certified photocopies of counterfoils of bank drafts for various amounts. There is no indication as to how these amounts are relatable to the amount in the invoice for the zip fasteners issued by M/s. Goyal Dresses dated 24-8-1982. There is no correlation, either by way of the amounts in the drafts, or by way of any correspondence, to show that the amount in the draft was towards payment of invoices in questions. This piece of evidence, therefore, does not advance the case of the appellant at all. Yet another argument has been that the Collector (Appeals) was in error in having invo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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