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TMI Blog2016 (4) TMI 489X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... R (JUDICIAL) AND MR. C.J. MATHEW, MEMBER (TECHNICAL) For the Petitioner : Shri Anil Balani, Advocate For the Respondent : Shri M.K. Sarangi, Jt. Commissioner (AR) ORDER PER: M.V. RAVINDRAN This appeal is directed against Order-in-Original No. 129/2013/CAC/CC(G)/PKA/CBS(ADMN) dated 13/11/2013. 2. The relevant facts are the appellant herein is a CHA. On a report dated 28.07.2008 received from DRI vide letter no. DRI/MZU/E/Int-43/2006 dated 25/07/2008, informing about the involvement of appellant CHA in the case of Fraudulent availment of Drawback on exporters in the name of IEC which were obtained on the basis of fictitious addresses at and in the name of non-existent person, the CHA license of appellant was suspen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pted the clearing work in good faith and in normal course of business as, also these shipping bills was brought by their regular freight forwarder M/s. Shashikant Logistic and the export documents were all found to be correct and cleared by the Customs officers and allowed shipment without any doubt being raised. It is his submission that since there was no doubt about the freight forwarder, there was no reason to doubt about the genuineness of exporters and failure of investigating authorities to trace out the exporter cannot be attributed as negligence on the part of appellant. It is also his submission that the verification of the exporter done by the authorities in Surat is also not correct and it is surprising that the intelligence age ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o any work related to clearance of cargo or baggage . 10.3 Article of Charge-III a. In terms of Regulation 13(n), A Custom House Agent shall ensure that he discharges his duties as Customs House Agent with utmost speed and efficiency and without avoidable delay . It can be seen from the above reproduced articles of charges, the defense of the appellant is the documents were received from Shri Sitaram Tambe of Shashikant Logistic who was a regular customer, and in respect of article or charge no. 2 that they had exercised due deligence certain information by looking up the IEC Code etc. and as regards charge note 3 there is nothing on record to indicate that appellant had not discharged functions with utmost speed and effici ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ner/proprietor of the said firms. He admitted that necessary precaution had not been taken by their firm as a CHA to meet the exporter and to verify the genuineness at the time of filing the shipping bills. On the basis of that following articles of charges were framed for violation of Regulations 13(d), 13(n) and 19(8) of the CHALR, 2004 for not advising his client to comply with the provisions of the Act, not bringing the matter to the notice of Dy. Commissioner/Assistant Commissioner of Customs and not discharging their duties as Customs House Agent with utmost speed and efficiency and without avoidable delay and not ensured the proper conduct of any such employees in the transaction of business as agents and be held responsible for all ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... diligence to find out through DGFT website, whether the IE Codes are genuine or not, which were found to be genuine. Moreover, it was also verified from the JNCH where these exporters were registered and the Drawback account was also maintained at JNCH in which Drawback claim would have been credited, therefore, the allegation that the appellant had not verified the contents of the exporters is not sustainable. Further, we observe that in similar set of facts in the case of Setwin Shipping Agency (supra) wherein the same charges were made against the CHA and in that case, this Tribunal has held that CHA need not to be responsible for verifying the contents of the exporter. Thereafter, this Tribunal has revoked the order of suspension of CHA ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e revoked the CHA licence. 8. We find that the observation/findings of the Commissioner of Customs in the case of Daroowala Bros Co. (supra) and in the appellants case are almost identical and in both the cases treatments given are different. The Commissioner of Customs (General) should maintain consistency in passing the orders/decisions and should not follow the policy of pick and choose. In this case, we find that the Commissioner of Customs (General) has followed the policy of pick and choose and there is no consistency in decision while dealing the same situation, thereby he revoked the CHA licence of the appellant, which cannot be permitted. In view of these observations, we do not find any merit in the impugned order, the sam ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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