The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal ( CESTAT ), New Delhi Bench quashed suspension of revocation of Customs Broker Licence of Customs House Agent ( CHA ) as there was no alleged violation of provisions of Customs Broker Licensing Regulations, ( CBLR ) 2018.
The appeal has been filed by a Customs House Agent, M/s. ICS Cargoagainst the order of revocation of his customs broker license and an order of forfeiture of the whole amount of security deposit and imposition of penalty.The appellant was alleged to have facilitated the import clearance work for those imported goods.
A Show Cause Noticewas served upon the appellant and some importers by DRI, DZU, Delhi, alleging under valuation of imported goods i.e. power tools of Dongcheng brand and other Chinese brand through various ports by certain importers controlled by Yusuf Pardawala and Sidharth Sharma.
The lower authorities have ignored the most cogent part of the statement of Siddharth Sharma, wherein, he has specifically acknowledged that payments and charges for clearance etc. were paid to the appellant from the accounts of the concerned companies in whose names the Bills of Entry were filed.
Another cogent deposition absolving entire liability of the appellant is that the clearance work of the import consignments of power bills and other related items in his company was handled by Shri Pankaj Singh alias Banti who did not work for M/s. ICS Cargo rather was the Director of a freight forwarding company in the name of M/s. JMD Clearing and Forwarding Pvt Ltd.
A Bench comprising PV Subba Rao, Technical Member and Dr Rachna Gupta, Judicial Member noted that “In fact it stands proved in record that the arrangement was never brought to the notice of appellant. Hence, there was nothing with appellant to hide from the department. Mere taking certain documents of importer from a person appearing on behalf of the importer who is otherwise validly existing at the declared address and having valid IEC and GSTIN is highly insufficient to hold that CHA has failed in performing his duties of Customs House Agent deliberately.”
“We hold that the appellant has not committed any alleged violation of Regulation 10(a), 10(d) and 10(n) of CBLR, 2018. Thus, we hold that the order of revoking the license of appellant and of imposing penalty upon the appellant is absolutely wrong, unreasonable and unjustified” the Tribunal noted.
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