9911796707
TMI Blog2002 (2) TMI 960X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ustoms Officers searched the residential premises of Shri Sansar Gupta on 6-7-1998 nothing incriminating was recovered from the residence. The Officers, however, recovered and seized ball bearings of foreign origin totally valued at Rs. 79,21,970/- from a godown after breaking open the lock thereof in the presence of witnesses. Shri Sansar Gupta, in his statement dated 6-7-98, deposed that about two months back, he met Ram Niwas of Bombay who agreed to supply to him smuggled ball bearing of foreign origin in bulk quantity which he could sell on a commission of Rs. 150/- per bag. Sansar then took the said godown on rent of Rs. 2000/- per month from one Anil Jain. He received first consignment of 135 bags of ball bearings in May, 1998 out of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ana, learned Advocate, appearing on behalf of all the Appellants, mentioned at the outset that the impugned goods do not belong to any of the Appellants; that further penalties have been imposed both on the proprietors as well as their proprietory firms; that no evidence has been adduced by the Revenue, except the retracted statement of Sansar Gupta, that the impugned goods are smuggled goods; that these goods have not been notified under Section 123 of the Customs Act and the onus is upon the Department to prove the smuggled nature of the goods and the Department has failed to do so; that ball bearings are not prohibited goods and the same can be imported into India by any person and the same are covered under OGL; that this is not even th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re not applicable, the burden of proof that they are not smuggled is on the Customs Authorities. He also referred to the decision in Shanti Lal Mehta v. U.O.I., 1983 (14) E.L.T. 1715 (Del.) wherein it was held that if there was no obligation on the petitioner to prove that the goods were not smuggled the burden of proof was wrongly cast on him and the entire enquiry is vitiated and order of confiscation is liable to be set aside. He also relied upon the decision in the case of Hindustan Bearing Corporation v. Collector of Customs, 1990 (50) E.L.T. 91 (T) wherein it was held that the mere fact that the goods were foreign in origin is not sufficient to hold that they are smuggled goods. The circumstances that the consignee firm was fictitiou ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pellants; that the Appellants have not produced any evidence to show that the ball bearings in question, which are of foreign origin, were licitly brought into the country. 6. We have considered the submissions of both the sides. We observe that the entire case of the Revenue is based on the statement given by Shri Sansar Gupta and absence of any documents to show the legal import of the ball bearings in question. Mere statement of Sansar Gupta, in our view, is not enough to prove that the ball bearings were smuggled one. What has been stated by him in his statement is that Ram Niwas told him that he could supply ball bearings of foreign origin of smuggled nature in bulk quantity. Ram Niwas, in his statement dated 2-9-98 has completely de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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