COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS Vs. A MAHESH RAJ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WRIT Petition by the Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore, a statutory functionary in terms of section 3 of the Customs Act, 1962 [for short, the Act], as one class of officer of the Customs department, questioning the legality of the order dated 26-9-2001, a copy of which is produced at Annexure-A to the writ petition, passed by the Customs and Central Excise Settlement commission [for short, the Settlement Commission], Additional Bench, Chennai in proceedings settlement Application No. SA (C) 10/2001.

(2.) THE order passed by the Settlement Commission is sought to be quashed on the premise that the commission lacks jurisdiction to settle the case at the instance of the respondent to whom the adjudicating authority under the Act had issued a showcause notice in terms of Section 124 of the Act, calling upon the respondent to show cause as to why correct duty should not be assessed and realized from the respondent in respect of certain goods which the respondent had cleared without a bill entry but by claiming the goods as his personal baggage on 3-12-1999, when the respondent was returning from Singapore.

(3.) THE show cause notice had, inter alia, indicated that the declaration by the respondent that the personal baggage contained only toys was a mis-declaration; that it contained large quantities of mobile phones, mobile phones in CKD condition, computer ROMS, notebooks ROMS and such other notified items notified for the purpose of Section 123 of the Act which were being brought for sale on commercial lines and not for mere personal use of the respondent. The show cause notice had indicated the duty liability and also proposed to levy penalty etc.