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TMI Blog2008 (9) TMI 69X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... J. Oza for the Appellant. None for the Opponent. [Judgment per K.A. Puj, J. (Oral)]. - The Commissioner of Customs, Ahmedabad has filed these three Tax Appeals under Section 130 of the Customs Act, 1962 proposing to formulate the following substantial questions of law for the determination and consideration of this Court. "(i) Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case, the act of omission by the respondent to follow procedure stipulated under Section 44 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 read with Rule 53 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 and non-exercise of powers conferred under Section 45 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, to refuse registration, would constitute offence of abetment making the respondent liable f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r site for loading 4 cars to be exported to Felixstowe with customs examination to be undertaken at CFS, Adalaj. The price declared in the shipping bill was US $ 12,000/-. On information that the aforesaid motor vehicles were illegally exported, the investigation was carried out, to ascertain validity and permissibility of export of the above referred motor vehicles. In course of investigation, the Investigating Officer has recorded the statements of various persons under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962. Notices were thereafter issued, replies were also given and under these facts and circumstances the Commissioner of Customs, Gujarat, Ahmedabad in the capacity of the adjudicating authority, passed order in Original No.50/COMMR/97, dat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m Act and willfully made wrong entries in the record and thereby they have facilitated the principal offender to export Vintage cars. He has, therefore, submitted that the penalty was rightly imposed upon the respondents and the Tribunal, without assigning any reason has deleted the penalty imposed on the respondents. 5. We have heard Mr. Oza at great length and also perused the orders passed by the Commissioner of Custom as well as Tribunal. So far as present respondents are concerned, Commissioner of Custom has observed that one Anilkumar H. Patel submitted that registration application contained the correct year of make and as such the department cannot say that the application contained false year of make. He also stated that the d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ear and model no. in registration records as per dictation given by Shri J.P. Parikh, Head Clerk. Shri J. P. Parikh, on being asked as to why he did not ask his clerk to mention the details of cars in the registration book, he stated that he was advised by D. T. Mehta to write the work 'not known' for column Nos.3 and 10. He also stated that he advised Mr. Mehta to call for old registration books since vehicles were old, but Mr. Mehta instructed him to use work 'not known', since the applicants have not brought old registration record. Mr. Darji admitted that xerox copies of duplicate R.C. Books were shown to him and stated that writing on the left side of the book was his hand writing and on right side was not his hand writing. 6. On ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... acture 'not known'. The year of the manufacturing was shown in the affidavit of owner. Shri Jagdishbhai P. Parikh, Head Clerk, said in his statement that the year of manufacture was not filled in his register and registration certificate issued was because of the advice received from Mr. D. T. Mehta. Why Mr. Mehta chose to write 'not known' in the application was not satisfactorily explained nor why he could not take steps to ascertain the year of the manufacture. However, the Commissioner's order does not indicate how this would have facilitated the smuggling of the cars. The Tribunal, therefore, observed that the duplicate registration certificate which was presented to the Custom at the time of export showed the year of manufacture to be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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