- (1.) This writ petition has been filed challenging Order-in-Original No. 18452/2012, dated March 7, 2012. At the first instance, the Assistant Commissioner of Customs made a demand of Rs. 4,91,000 in respect of three bills of entry with interest on failure to produce the B-15 registration certificate issued to the supplier of the goods, namely, switches which were cleared provisionally. Aggrieved by the order, the petitioner preferred an appeal to the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Chennai and the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Chennai after hearing the appeal, set aside the order and remanded the matter back to the original authorities for de novo enquiry. The Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Group 5A, on remand initiated the proceedings de novo and issued notices on various dates calling upon the petitioner to appear for personal hearing. It is recorded in the order under challenge that the petitioner failed to appear on the dates mentioned and therefore the authority had no other option except to proceeds further.
(2.) Paragraph 4 of the impugned order, which is relevant, reads as follows: 4. The case has been taken up for de novo proceedings. It is pertinent to mention that the importer, M/s. ETA General Pvt. Ltd., 688, Anna Salai, Chennai-600 006 were granted personal hearings on March 22, 2011, April 12, 2011, November 8, 2011, February 13, 2012, February 15, 2012 and February 17, 2012. They failed to. appear on all the days mentioned above in spite of clearly informing that the matter would be decided ex parte.
(3.) Since there is no response from the petitioner, the authority came to hold that the importer is trying to delay the matter and failed to co-operate in conducting the matter. Hence, he proceeded to pass orders on merits. In the result, the authority passed an order of confiscation of the goods under section 111(d) and 111(o) of the Customs Act, 1962 and penalty under section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962. The following order came to be passed: (i) I confiscate the goods under section 111(d) and 111(o) of the Customs Act, 1962. (ii) However, I give option to redeem the goods upon payment of fine of Rs. 3,00,000 (rupees three lakhs only) under section 125 of the Customs Act, 1962. (iii) I impose a penalty of Rs. 1,50,000 (rupees one lakh fifty thousand only) on the importer under section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962. (iv) I order closure of test bonds executed by the importer in the above lines. The said order is under challenge in the present writ petition.;