B. Bhattacharya, J. - (1.) This appeal under Sec. 130(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) is at the instance of the Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), West Bengal and is directed against the order dated 23rd September, 2003 passed by the learned Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, Eastern Zonal Bench, Kolkata in Appeal No. CSM 147 of 2003 thereby setting aside the order of imposition of penalty of Rs. 1.50 lakh upon the Messers Planters Airways Limited and that of Rs. 15,000/ - upon Shri Suresh Kumar Nyollywalla under the provision of Sec. 112(b) of the Act.
(2.) The facts giving rise to the filing of the present appeal may be summed up thus : (a) The Director of Revenue Intelligence intercepted one truck belonging to a transport company named M/s. Planters Airways Limited when the same was on its way from Siliguri to Guahati and it was found to be loaded with some packages containing goods of foreign origin of miscellaneous nature, such as, cordless telephones, rechargeable emergencies lanterns, record players etc. Sri Sukhendu Bikash Bakshi, the representative of the transport company in his statement given on 10th October, 2001 stated that the consignments were booked for different destinations in the North Eastern States and those were booked in accordance with the declaration given by the consignors and on the basis of documents produced by them. He further stated that as a transporter they were not required to verify the contents at the time of booking of the consignments. The transport company, however, disclosed the names and addresses of all the consignors of the consignments. (b) On the above basis, show -cause notices were issued to all the persons concerned proposing confiscation of the goods as also the truck involved, along with the imposition of personal penalties upon the various persons involved. (c) Those show -cause notices were adjudicated by the Commissioner and he had imposed a personal penalty upon the appellant and had also confiscated the foreign made miscellaneous goods absolutely. (d) In addition, the truck in question had also been confiscated with an option to the owner to redeem the same on payment of redemption fine of Rs. 50,000/ -. The indigenous goods have also been confiscated on the ground that those were used to cover up the foreign made smuggled items with the option to the transport company to redeem those on payment of a redemption fine of Rs. 42,000/ -. (e) Being dissatisfied with the aforesaid order of confiscation and imposition of penalty, appeals were preferred before the Tribunal and by the order impugned herein, the said Tribunal has set aside the order passed by the authority below.
(3.) Being dissatisfied, the Revenue has come up with the present appeal.;