9911796707
TMI Blog1942 (1) TMI 1X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e present appeal has been filed. The case for the prosecution is as follows: There is a firm of merchants named Curmally Jan-mahomed in Bombay with a branch in Calcutta and another branch in Osaka, Co. The firm imports Japanese goods in India for sale in the Indian Market. The respondent H. C. Patel is the manager of the Calcutta Branch. The Osaka Branch is kept in funds by the Head Office in Bombay and the Branch in Calcutta and purchases goods from Japanese Manufacturers for shipment to Bombay and Calcutta. 2.During the year 1939, the Osaka Branch entered into forward contracts with Japanese firms for the supply of a number of articles, including tin whistles, glass beads and glass mirrors, for shipment to Calcutta, and informed the C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of that search documents and correspondence were seized and those documents etc. have been relied on the prove the case against the respondent. 3.Three specific charges were framed against the respondent, the first in respect of a consignment of tin whisltes, which arrived in Calcutta in March 1940, the second in respect of a consignment of hollow glass beads which arrived in Calcutta in June 1940, and the third in rcspect of a consignment of glass mirrors which arrived in Calcutta in June 1940. Evidence was also given in respect of a number of other consignments in which similar false declarations as to the real value of the consignments were said to have been made. In a long written statement, the respondent admitted that he was the ma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ary to decide whether the letters and documents in question are admissible in evidence as proof of the truth of the statements contained in them, nor to decide whether these letters and documents reveal the true state of affairs. We shall assume, without in any way deciding these questions that the facts are as contended by the prosecution. The material part of the first charge against the respondents was in the following words : "That you, H. C. Patel........ aided and abetted one B. G. Samaddar, in committing an offence of cheating the Government of India, in its Customs Department, Calcutta by causing a false declaration to be made of the real value of tin whistles….. dishonestly concealing the fact that an increment of 20% has been gi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ct, was clearly applied in the present case, and that inasmuch as the importer gave as the 'real value' of the goods, the price said to have been paid by him, and supported his statement by producing the invoices, it was equally clear that the importer sought to have the 'real value' determined under section 30(b) of the Act. In our opinion, it was not sufficient to prove that the Customs Officers in fact applied S. 30 (b) of the Act, or that the importer sought to have the real value determined under S. 30(b). It was incumbent on the prosecution to prove that those conditions were fulfilled which entitled the Customs Officers to apply S. 30(b) and not S. 30(a). In other words, it was incumbent on the prosecution to prove that 'the whole-sa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ality could be delivered, is taken as the real value. It may easily happen, particularly in the disturbed conditions following an outbreak of war, that different importers port similar goods at different prices, and that one importer is willing to import at prices in excess of the 'real value' in anticipation of future rises in price. It might happen that in circumstances similar to those of the, present case, some importers declined to pay, the increased prices, demanded by the manufacturers and succeeded in inducing or compelling the manufacturers to supply the goods at the contrast rate. The mere fact that an importer paid a particular price for particular goods is not sufficient to prove that that price is the real value for the purpose ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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