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TMI Blog2017 (9) TMI 758X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tc were being imported against forged import licenses purported to have been issued by the Wireless Planning and Coordinating Wing (WPC) of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India. The notification No.71-Cus dated 25.09.1954, as amended, requires submission of such import licenses for import of wireless transmitting apparatus and transreceivers. The intelligence further indicated that such forged import licenses were being fabricated by M/s Alliance Strategies Ltd, (ASL) New Delhi. Upon conclusion of investigation by DRI, SCNs were issued to various importers who were found to have imported such wireless transmitting equipments making use of forged import licenses. After the due process of adjudication, the impugned orders were issued in which the seized goods imported using the forged WPC licences were confiscated and penalties were also imposed on the importers. Penalties were also imposed on M/s Alliance Strategies Ltd as well as various employees of M/s Alliance Strategies, who were considered as involved in the commission of the offence. Aggrieved by impugned orders, the present appeals have been filed and are being decided through this c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... from some of the licences he had seen earlier; that to confirm this he took the whole file of import licences from Ms Anuradha Diwan who was assisting Shri Sanjay Sachdeva and Mr Ashok Gupta and noticed that many licences were having different stamps and varying signatures of the same officer; that he came to know from Sh. Jaspal Singh, Manager (Liaison) that M/s ASL were Importing equipments which were under the restricted category by making use of import licences. iv) Ms Anuradha Diwan, AM (Regulatory) ASL vide her statement dated 18.07.2011, regarding data retrieved from her laptop stated that she used to prepare and type, the letters addressed to Wireless Advisers of DoT as per directions of Mr Sanjay Sachdeva, CEO. The clients used to print-out these letters, sign them and return to ASL who used to make the applications for import licence to DoT. Regarding print-outs of the unsigned import licences, purported to be issued by the DoT and other related correspondences/letters of DoT, retrieved from her laptop under panchnama dated 12.07.2012, she admitted that the licences in the name of various clients/companies except M/s Hughes were typed by her on the direction of Shri Sanj ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hes have no role to play in forging of the WPC licences, the fact remains that goods were imported without proper import licence which becomes a contravention of Section 111. In this regard, the ratio laid-down by the Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Affloat Textiles (I) P Ltd reported in 2009(235) ELT 567 (SCV), wherein Hon'ble Apex Court held as under: "19. It was for the buyer to establish that he had no knowledge about the genuineness or otherwise of the SIL in question. The maxim caveat emptor is clearly applicable to a case of this nature. As per Advanced Law Lexicon by P. Ramanatha Aiyer, 3rd Edn. 2005 at page 721: Caveat emptor means "Let the purchaser beware. "It is one of the settled maxims, applying to a purchaser who is bound by actual as well as constructive knowledge of any defect in the thing purchased, which is obvious, or which might have been known by proper diligence. 21. Caveat emperor does not mean either in law or in Latin that the buyer must take chances. It means that the buyer must take care." (See Wallis V. Russell (1902) 21 R 585, 615). 22. Caveat emptor is the ordinary rule in contract. A vendor is under no duty to communicate the existence even of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ia Ltd and (3) M/s Hughes Network Systems India Ltd. 9. Now, we consider the appeals filed on behalf of various persons associated with M/s ASL. (i) It has been submitted on behalf of Mr. Jarnail Singh Chaudhary, ex-Manager ASL that he was only a paid employee earning remuneration of Rs. 25,000/- PM. Whatever was done in connection with this was done under the orders and instructions of his superior officers who were also the real beneficiaries of the fraud. (ii) On behalf of Sh. Sanjay Sachdeva, Director, Ms Anuradha Dewan, and Mr Ashok Gupta, Director, ASL, it has been submitted that they have not filed any document in the custom house including the impugned bills of entry or the WPC licences. Accordingly, they have submitted that no penalty is leviable on them. Moreover, the charges of abatement also were not sustainable as the fake licences were not filed by them with the customs. (iii) On behalf of Shri Amit Mahajan, ex-Manager, ASL, it has been submitted that he was in no way concerned with the forgery of licences, if any. He has further denied his role in any conspiracy to forge the import licences. 10. We have perused the records of the case. It stands established as p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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