Custom, Excise and Service Tax Appellant Tribunal (CESTAT), Chennai: Sulekha Beevi C.S. (Judicial Member) modified the order of the Commissioner (Appeals) in favor of the appellant.
The appellant had filed a bill of entry for the importation of Arecanuts and had declared its value as Rs 1,06,14,272. On verification, the department held that the goods did not conform to the Food Safety and Standards Act of India [FSSAI] standards. After due process of law, the original authority ordered confiscation of the goods and directed to re-export the goods. He also imposed redemption fine of Rs 20 lakhs and a separate penalty of Rs 10 lakhs. In the appeal, the Commissioner (Appeals) upheld the findings of the adjudicating authority but, reduced the redemption fine to Rs 5 lakhs and penalty to Rs 2 lakhs. The appellants were aggrieved by this order and filed an appeal.
The appellant challenged the redemption fine and penalty imposed, submitting before the Court that they were willing to re-export the goods. If the goods were re-exported, the redemption fine imposed would not have any basis. The Judgment in Sankar Pandi v. Union of India, 2001 SCC OnLine Mad 1240 was relied upon which was upheld by Supreme Court too. The Authorised Representative for the Revenue submitted that the appellants have imported goods violating the provisions of FSSAI regulations and, therefore, had been rightly confiscated by the department.
The Court reiterated that the appellant only contested the redemption fine and penalty imposed upon them. Since the appellant was willing to re-export the goods, the Court set aside the redemption fine imposed on them and further stated that with regard to the penalty imposed, the appellant had suffered huge container charges and their goods have been detained for nearly nine months. Since the goods have been ordered to be re-exported and also taking note of the fact that they are not prohibited goods, the Court was of the view that the penalty imposed was on the higher side. The same is reduced to Rs 25,000.
The appeal was partly allowed and the impugned order was modified by setting aside the redemption fine and upholding the direction to re-export the goods. The penalty was also reduced to Rs 25,000.[Arihant Groups v. Commissioner of Customs, 2019 SCC OnLine CESTAT 275, decided on 16-09-2019]
