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TMI Blog2017 (10) TMI 1139X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ing to achieve such ill object, such act against public Revenue calls for penal consequence to curb such mischief. Penal provisions are enacted to suppress the evils of defrauding Revenue which is an anti-social activity adversely affecting the public revenue, earning of foreign exchange, economic and financial stability of the economy. Therefore such provisions are construed in a manner to suppress the mischief and to promote the object of the statute, preventing evasion, foiling artful circumvention thereof. Thus construed, the term fraud within the meaning of these penal provisions is wide enough to take into its fold any one or series of acts committed. Appellant fails to succeed in his appeal having acted malafide causing detriment to the interest of public revenue. Ill will of appellant came to record. Pre-ponderance of probability was in favour of Revenue and lent credence to its case. Appeal dismissed - decided against appellant. - C/1271/08 - A/90279/17/SMB - Dated:- 27-10-2017 - Dr. D.N. Panda, Judicial Member None for appellant Shri S. J. Sahoo, Asst. Commr (AR) for respondent ORDER Per: D.N. Panda Record reveals that the appellant ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... erns before Jt. DGFT to get DEPB scrips. The scrips so obtained were sold in the market to various concerns for use thereof to make duty free import deceiving Government. 2.1 One Shri Ramanlal Acharya @ Kakaji was holding out to be proprietor of the above said fake concerns viz. Pearl Exports, Pacific Corporation, Universal Trading Co., and Unique Exim with false address at Veena Beena Shopping Centre, Bandra (W) and Razakwadi, Bandra (E) and was abetting commitment of the offence stated above. Different signatures were made on different forged and fake documents by him for presentation before Customs and Jt. DGFT. Fake application for IEC was made by that abettor. The photographs pasted on the IEC application forms were procured from different photo studios and were of unknown persons. 2.2 Appellant gaining experience from Shri Deepak Agarwal @ Dabbu and working with Shri Arun Gupta, Ashok Khema of Delhi and also with S hri Jasbir Singh of Mumbai who were obtaining DEPBs scrip without making any physical export and without receiving any foreign remittance in designing fraud against Revenue and getting DEPB scrips under fraud, he himself printed fraudulent document ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as actively and consciously involved in defrauding revenue for which interest of Customs was prejudiced. Appellant was not at all a stranger to the commission of the offence alleged by investigation. Having pre-determined mind to deceive the exchequor, he perpetuated fraud against Revenue. Accordingly, he was liable to the penal consequence provided under section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962. 8. Evidence Act does not insist on absolute proof for the simple reason that perfect proof in this imperfect world is seldom to be found. That is why under Section 3 of the Evidence Act, a fact is said to be proved when, after considering the matters before it, the Court either believes it to exist or considers its existence so probable that a prudent man ought, under the circumstances of the particular case, acts upon the supposition that it exists. This definition of proof does not draw any distinction between circumstantial and other evidence. Preponderance of probability comes to rescue of Revenue and Revenue is not required to prove its case by mathematical precision. Thus, if circumstances establish that there is high degree of probability that a prudent man ought to act on the sup ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s all transactions known to the law of however high a degree of solemnity. When fraud is established that unravels all. [Ref : UOI v. Jain Shudh Vanaspati Ltd. - 1996 (86) E.L.T. 460 (S.C.) and in Delhi Development Authority v. Skipper Construction Company (P) Ltd. - AIR 1996 SC 2005] . Any undue gain made at the cost of Revenue is to be restored back to the treasury since fraud committed against Revenue voids all judicial acts, ecclesiastical or temporal and DEPB scrips obtained playing fraud against the public authorities are non est. So also no Court in this country can allow any benefit of fraud to be enjoyed by anybody as is held by Apex Court in the case of Chengalvaraya Naidu reported in (1994) 1 SCC I : AIR 1994 SC 853. Ram Preeti Yadav v. U.P. Board High School and Intermediate Education (2003) 8 SCC 311. (D) A person whose case is based on falsehood has no right to seek relief in equity [Ref : S.P. Chengalvaraya Naidu v. Jagannath, AIR 1994 S.C. 853]. It is a fraud in law if a party makes representations, which he knows to be false, and injury ensues therefrom although the motive from which the representations proceeded may not have been bad. [Ref : Commiss ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to promote the object of the statute, preventing evasion, foiling artful circumvention thereof. Thus construed, the term fraud within the meaning of these penal provisions is wide enough to take into its fold any one or series of acts committed. Such act or acts when demonstrate to be reasonably proximate to the clearance of imports duty free on the basis of the DEPB scrips fraudulently obtained against false documents filed before DGFT, a trader of such scrips has to face adverse consequence of law. 11. In view of the above discussions and the result of investigation as well as adjudication findings remained unchallenged, appellant fails to succeed in his appeal having acted malafide causing detriment to the interest of public revenue. Ill will of appellant came to record. Pre-ponderance of probability was in favour of Revenue and lent credence to its case. 12. Enactments like Customs Act, 1962 and Customs Tariff Act, 1975, are not merely taxing statutes but are also potent instruments in the hands of the Government to safeguard interest of the economy. One of its measures is to prevent deceptive practices of undue claim of fiscal incentives. Evidence Act not being applicab ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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