Misc. Order No. 852/2004, arising from Appeal No. C/235/2003. Case: East India Commercial Co. Ltd. Vs Commr. of Cus., Visakhapatnam. CEGAT (Customs, Excise & Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal) & CESTAT (Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal)
| Case Number | Misc. Order No. 852/2004, arising from Appeal No. C/235/2003 |
| Counsel | For Appellant: Shri R. Sudhakar, Advocate and For Respondent: Shri P.M. Saleem, SDR. |
| Judges | Dr. S.L. Peeran, Member (J) and Shri T.K. Jayaraman, Member (T) |
| Issue | Customs Act, 1962 - Section 129A(5) |
| Citation | 2005 (180) ELT 65 (Tri. - Bang.) |
| Judgement Date | October 12, 2004 |
| Court | CEGAT (Customs, Excise & Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal) & CESTAT (Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal) |
Order:
T.K. Jayaraman, Member (T), (South Zonal Bench At Bangalore)
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M/s. East India Commercial Ltd., Eluru, the appellants have filed this application for condonation of delay in filing the appeal. The appellants are engaged in the manufacture of jute products. They decided to modernise their jute mill and consequently they imported second-hand machineries in respect of the machineries imported under BE No. 2003 dated 8-10-2002. The department initiated proceedings against the appellants on the ground of misdeclaration of the machinery. The Commissioner of Customs in his O-I-O No. 14/02 dated 15-11-2002 (Order despatched on 31-1-2003) confiscated the impugned goods and enhanced their value by 25% of the declared value. He also imposed the redemption fine of 25% on the assessable value and penalty of Rs. 3 lakhs on the appellants. It is seen that the appellant has filed the appeal against the order of the Commissioner after a delay of 98 days. The appellant prayed for condonation of delay of 98 days on the following grounds -
(1) The appellants imported goods other than the impugned goods, prior to the importation of the impugned goods.
(2) All the above imports were subject matter of adjudication by the department and the appellants were very busy preparing the appeals in respect of them.
Even though the adjudication Order No. 14/02 is dated 15-11-2002, the same was despatched on 31-1-2003, after a lapse of 76 days and therefore they could not keep track of the matter. After the receipt of the Order-in-Original, it was kept by the clerical staff without realising the relevance of filing an appeal within the time stipulated. The appellants checked with the department in the month of May and they were informed that the Order had already been despatched in the month of June, 2003. They accidentally got the order on going through some correspondence files and started preparing the appeal. Moreover the Company decided to engage a Counsel well versed in customs law and approached the present Counsel at Chennai. In the meanwhile they were engaged in attending to the adjudication of goods covered by BE No. 1176 dated 5-6-2003 by...
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