Shri Kamal Hazra, Shri Anil Das and Vs. Cc (Prev), W.B. - Court Judgment

Excerpt:

.....question belong and the names of the appellants being members of the said smuggling syndicate. as such it can be safely concluded that there is a lot of corroborating statements to each other by the statement of various persons. accordingly i hold that the appellants do not have a prima facie case in their favour so as to allow the stay petitions unconditionally. accordingly, taking into account the overall facts and circumstances of the case i direct the applicants/appellants to deposit an amount of rs. 20,000/- (rupees twenty thousand only) each before 26th july, 2001. subject to deposit of the above amount, their appeals would also be taken up on 27th july, 2001 along with the appeal of shri sunil ghosh arising out of the same impugned order listed for disposal on the said date. it may be mentioned here that non-compliance with the said order would result in dismissal of the appeals without any further notice to them.

Judgment:

1. All the three application praying for dispensing with the condition of predeposit of penalty amount of Rs. 50,000/- (rupees fifty thousand only) imposed on each of them by Commissioner of Customs, Calcutta are being taken together for disposal as they arise out of the same impugned order of the Commissioner.

2. I have heard Shri K.P. Dey, learned Advocate appearing for the applicants/appellants and Shri V.K. Chaturvedi, learned SDR for the Revenue.

3. The above penalties have been imposed upon the said appellants on the finding that they are members of smuggling syndicate headed by Shri Sunil Ghosh who was connected with the contraband goods of foreign origin, valued at Rs. 1.33 crore, which was seized by the Customs officers and stand confiscated by the impugned order. For arriving at a the above finding the Commissioner has relied upon the statement of the driver of the truck transporting the contraband goods in question. In the statement the driver has mentioned that the goods belong to smuggling syndicate headed by Shri Sunil Ghosh consisting of the appellant in question as the other member. Shri Anil Das in his statement before interrogating officers recorded during the post-seizure investigation had admitted that the seized contraband items belong to smuggling syndicate of Shri Sunil Ghosh of which he is a member, He has also disclosed that Shri Sunil Ghosh, kamal Hazra are other members of the syndicate. Shri Badan Ghosh has also deposed to that effect his statement recorded by the officers on 15.8.99. As such it seen that the statement of each and every person revealed the existence of the smuggling syndicate to whom the contraband goods in question belong and the names of the appellants being members of the said smuggling syndicate. As such it can be safely concluded that there is a lot of corroborating statements to each other by the statement of various persons. Accordingly I hold that the appellants do not have a prima facie case in their favour so as to allow the stay petitions unconditionally. Accordingly, taking into account the overall facts and circumstances of the case I direct the applicants/appellants to deposit an amount of Rs. 20,000/- (rupees twenty thousand only) each before 26th July, 2001. Subject to deposit of the above amount, their appeals would also be taken up on 27th July, 2001 along with the appeal of Shri Sunil Ghosh arising out of the same impugned order listed for disposal on the said date. It may be mentioned here that non-compliance with the said order would result in dismissal of the appeals without any further notice to them.