Ram Binay Kumar Vs. Commissioner of Customs - Court Judgment

Excerpt:
1. the appellant is absent in spite of today's notice of hearing having been sent to him well in advance. it is also noted from records that on the last date of hearing also, nobody appeared, neither was there any adjournment request. accordingly, i have heard shri t.k. kar, learned s.d.r. for the revenue and have gone through the impugned order vide which the commissioner of customs, patna has confiscated the pulse (urad dal) on the findings of attempted illegal export of the same to nepal, with an option to the appellant to redeem the same on payment of redemption fine of rs. 80,000.00 (rupees eighty thousand). in addition, personal penalty of rs. 20,000.00 (rupees twenty thousand) has also been imposed upon the appellant under the provisions of section 114 of the customs act, 1962.2......

Judgment:
1. The appellant is absent in spite of today's notice of hearing having been sent to him well in advance. It is also noted from records that on the last date of hearing also, nobody appeared, neither was there any adjournment request. Accordingly, I have heard Shri T.K. Kar, learned S.D.R. for the Revenue and have gone through the impugned order vide which the Commissioner of Customs, Patna has confiscated the Pulse (Urad Dal) on the findings of attempted illegal export of the same to Nepal, with an option to the appellant to redeem the same on payment of redemption fine of Rs. 80,000.00 (Rupees eighty thousand). In addition, personal penalty of Rs. 20,000.00 (Rupees twenty thousand) has also been imposed upon the appellant under the provisions of Section 114 of the Customs Act, 1962.

2. As per the facts on record, the Customs Officers, on 21-4-2001 Motihari intercepted one truck bearing Registration No. DL-1GB-4278 loaded with 360 bags of Indian Pulse (Urad Dal), when the same was parked at Kushwaha Line Hotel near Piprakothi. The Assistant Commissioner detained the said truck for further investigation.

Subsequently, on 23-4-2001, they received a FAX Message from the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Land Customs Station, Raxaul to the effect that four truck loads of Indian Pulse, were seized by the Sikta Customs, when the same were crossing over to Nepal. The drivers of the said seized trucks have stated in their interrogatory statements that the other trucks belonging to the same party were standing near Kushwaha Line Hotel. On the above facts, the Customs Officers at Motihari, entertained a reasonable belief that 360 bags of Indian Pulses loaded in the detained truck were meant for illegal exportation to Nepal and accordingly, after recording the statement of the driver, seized the same. During the course of post-seizure investigations, they made enquiries from the Sales Tax Department, Income Tax Department as also from Commercial Tax Department. The result of these enquiries show that the consignee of the goods, Shri Ram Vinay Kumar was having licences for sale/purchase of the Indian Pulse. Enquiries were also made from the consignor of the Indian Pulses, M/s. Shree Jee Traders, who accepted having sent the goods to Shri. Ram Bi-nay Kumar of Adarpur, Lal Chhapra. It transpired that one tractor-trolley loaded with chana (gram) was also seized by the Deputy Commissioner, Raxaul, when the same was being illegally exported to Nepal by the same Shri Ram Binay Kumar.

3. Based upon the above facts, show cause notices were issued to the appellant, inter-alia, along with the other persons, proposing confiscation of the seized Urad Dal as also the truck, and for imposition of personal penalties upon them. The said show cause notice stands adjudicated by the Commissioner vide his impugned order.

4. Urad Dal which is admittedly of Indian Origin and which has admittedly been seized by the Customs Officers at a place which is far away from the Indo-Nepal Border, has been confiscated by the adjudicating authority under the provisions of Section 113 of the Customs Act, 1962, on the findings that the same was attempted to be exported to Nepal illegally. For arriving at the above findings, the Commissioner has relied upon the fact that the owner of the goods is the same party whose other trucks have been intercepted at Raxaul, while attempting to cross Indo-Nepal Border; in his interrogatory statement, the driver of the Truck seized at Raxaul, has disclosed that the consignment of foodgrain loaded in truck No. DL-1GB-4278 waiting near Kushwaha Line Hotel, Piprakothi is also meant for export to Nepal; the driver of the seized truck in the present matter has also stated that the consignment of Urad Dal belonged to Ram Binay Kumar, the same person whose consignment of foodgrain was seized by the Raxaul Customs, and Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Raxaul has written a letter to the District Magistrate, Motihari for revoking the licence of Ram Binay Kumar in view of his illegal activity.

5. On a perusal of the above reasonings adopted by the Commissioner, it is seen that the last one, i.e. writing of a letter by the Deputy Commissioner of Customs for revocation of the appellant's licence cannot be considered as an evidence at all. Primarily, the adjudicating authority has relied upon the fact that the chana loaded on a tractor-trolley belonging to the appellant, have been seized by the Customs Department in 'No Man's Land' while being crossed to Nepal illegally and the driver had disclosed that there were other trucks standing at Motihari for crossing to Nepal. However, it is seen that the seized four trucks at Raxaul are not the subject matter of the present appeal. The evidence in the present appeal for arriving at a finding as to whether the truck intercepted at Motihari was meant for export to Nepal, has to be looked into independently. When viewed from this angle, I find that there is nothing on record. The truck was seized when the same was standing at a place which is about 60 kilometres away from Indo-Nepal Border. The driver of the seized truck has clearly stated that he was to deliver the goods at a godown of the appellant, which is situated at Lal Chhapra of Adapur. The appellant is admittedly having licences for dealing in sale-purchase of pulses and foodgrains and the appellant has also disputed that the tractor-trolley loaded with chana seized by Raxaul Customs, belongs to him. The seizure of the four trucks at 'No Man's Land' have to be adjudicated separately on the basis of the evidence available in those cases. It cannot, ipso facto, lead to the conclusion that 360 bags of Urad Dal seized by the Officers at a place away from the border and meant for the first appellant's godown, were to be further exported to Nepal. As such, I find no justification for confiscation of the same or for imposition of personal penalty upon the appellant, Shri Ram Binay Kumar. Accordingly, I set aside the impugned order insofar as the same pertains to the first appellant and allow his appeal with consequential relief to him.

6. Inasmuchas the main appeal has been allowed, there is no justification for confiscation of the truck belonging to the second appellant, Shri Satnam Singh. Accordingly, I order his truck to be released.