Kapsons Industries Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Customs (Ep)

1. the impugned adjudication order has been passed pursuant to an order of remand passed by this tribunal. the direction contained in that impugned order was that redemption fine should be re-fixed taking into account the market price of the goods as well as the legal position.2. in the remand proceedings, the commissioner has reduced the redemption fine from rs. 10 lakhs to rs. 7.25 lakhs. the contention of the appellant in the present appeal is that the redemption fine fixed is very excessive as it is very much higher than the margin of profit involved. according to the appellant, when the landed price of the consignment is compared with the price of the domestic manufacturers, the profit would come to only rs. 80,000/-. this submission is made based on the price date furnished by steel authority of india. it is also the contention of the appellant that the goods had been ordered and lc opened on 1-12-1998 i.e. well before the issue of floor price notification by dgft on 11-12-1998. when the appellant renewed the lc on 12-12-1998 it was not aware that on the immediately preceding day to the notification floor price notification had been issued and licence was required for imports below the floor price.3. the learned dr has submitted that the commissioner has rightly imposed the redemption fine since the import price was not above the market price minus customs duty.4. the ceiling mentioned in section 125 of the customs act is the upper limit for redemption fine, while the fine itself is to be fixed keeping in mind the facts and circumstances of the case. the appellant was a regular importer of the item in question as an input. the import has also taken place almost simultaneously with the issue of an order imposing floor price. the margin of profit is rs. 80,000/-. taking all these aspects into account, i reduce the redemption fine to rs. 50,000/-. appeal is thus, partially allowed by reducing the redemption fine.