9911796707
TMI Blog2017 (7) TMI 584X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... h clearance of dredger claiming NIL rate of duty, claiming benefit under Customs Notification No. 21/2002 Sl. No. 353A consequently, non-payment of SAD by Notification No. 20/2006. During the course of examination of the cargo it was noticed by the authority that certain spares were imported and were carried in the imported dredger it tallied with the list of inventory of spares enclosed to the Bill of Entry tilted as Mandatory Spare Parts for Engines as per OEM without any invoice; a separate invoice in the IGM file was however found for spare parts along with an inventory list showing value of USD 388,719.51. Since the same was not disclosed at the time of filing of the Bill of Entry, the authorities felt that prima-facie reason existed t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... duty and consequently ordering that no penalties were imposable. 4. Ld. Departmental Representative submits that the impugned order vacating the seizure is incorrect as the importer/person in-charge of a vessel has not delivered the imported manifest of the goods carried in the vessel; as per Section 111(f) of the Customs Act, 1962, any dutiable or prohibited goods, required to be mentioned under the regulations in an import manifest or import report which are not so mentioned shall be liable for confiscation and if the import manifest is filed incorrectly or in incomplete form, it must not be treated as not a proper filing; the respondent/assessee has not separately and clearly/explicitly declared import of spares in the IGM which were pu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y spares. It is his further submission that they sought to clear the spares from the dock which in itself indicates they were mandatory spare parts required for the dredger. 6. On careful submissions and perusal of the records the issue that falls for consideration is whether the seizure vacated by the adjudicating authority is correct or otherwise. 7. I find that there is no dispute as to that the spares which were found on the dredger were not sought to be cleared as individual items but were considered by the respondent as mandatory spares. The factual findings of the adjudicating authority in respect of these spares needs to be reproduced which I do so: 14. Regarding the 1st question, the charge is that the importer did not declare t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gues that they never had any intention to clear the spares as part of the dredger and the only reason why the spares invoice was not produced along with the Bill of Entry for the dredger is because they intended to file separate Bill of Entry for the spares and the spares would have been produced for examination at the time of examination of that Bill of Entry. In the statement of Shri M.S. Swaroop it was stated that the said spares were offered for examination by the Customs Officer at the time of examination of dredger though they had not filed a separate Bill of Entry for the same. He also stated that he was asked to defer filing of Bill of Entry for spares pending receipt of credit scrips for adjusting duty towards the outstanding credi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 05.2011, informing the party that SFIS Scrips are transferable to a group company but an endorsement is required to that effect by the issuing authority. The scrips after due process were permitted to be used for payment of duty on clearance of the dredger. Further, in their reply to the query memo by the Assistant Commissioner they stated that they intend to file a separate Bill of Entry for the spares. In the statement by Shri Swaroop it was also stated that they did not file a Bill of Entry for spares in view of certain processes involved for endorsement of the scrips. On balance, in the presence of all these facts especially letter dated 04.05.2011, it cannot be held that they did not intend to pay any duty on the spares and attempted t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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