Page 225 - ELT_15th May 2020_VOL 372_Part 4th

2020 ] V.V. MINERAL v. COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, COCHIN 615

Commissioner v. Uma Shankar Verma — 2000 (120) E.L.T. 322 (Cal.) — Followed ........... [Paras 5.3, 7.3]
LNS Impex v. Principal Commissioner — 2019 (367) E.L.T. 700 (Telangana) — Referred .............. [Para 6]
National Engineering Industries v. Commissioner —2008 (227) E.L.T. A166 (S.C.)
— Referred ..................................................................................................................................... [Para 5.2]
Piyush Sanghavi v. Commissioner — 2015 (316) E.L.T. 291 (Tribunal) — Referred ........................ [Para 6]
Shreeji Transport Services Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner —
2014 (299) E.L.T. 412 (Ker.) — Relied on .......................................................................... [Paras 5.2, 7.2]
Yakub Ibrahim Yusuf v. Commissioner — 2011 (263) E.L.T. 685 (Tribunal) — Referred ............ [Para 5.3]
DEPARTMENTAL CLARIFICATION CITED
Commissioner of Customs, Cochin, Trade Facility No. 13/2016, dated 22-12-2016 .... [Paras 2.2, 5.2, 7.2]
REPRESENTED BY : Shri A.K. Jayaraj, Advocate, for the Appellant.
Shri P. Gopakumar, Jt. Commissioner (AR), for the
Respondent.
[Order]. - The present appeal is directed against the impugned order
dated 27-7-2019 passed by the Commissioner of Customs whereby the Commis-
sioner has passed the following order :
(i) I order absolute confiscation of 13,81,000 kgs of Garnet covered un-
der the 14 shipping bills mentioned in Annexure-C of the impugned
show cause notice, with total declared value of Rs. 1,94,36,277/- un-
der the provisions of Section 113(d) of the Customs Act, 1962.
(ii) I order absolute confiscation of 2,48,000 kgs of Garnet stored at the
Container Freight Station, MIV, Vallarpadam having value of
Rs. 34,90,366/- under Section 113(d) of the Customs Act, 1962.
(iii) I order confiscation of 13,00,000 kgs of Garnet covered under the 16
shipping bills mentioned in Annexure-B of the impugned
show cause notice, with total declared value of Rs. 1,72,87,120/- un-
der Section 113(d) of the Customs Act, 1962. However, since the
goods are not available for physical confiscation, I refrain from re-
deeming the goods.
(iv) I impose a penalty of Rs. 10,00,000/- (Rupees ten lakhs only) on
M/s. V.V. Minerals, 17-C, Keeraikaranthattu, Tisayanvilai - 627657
under Section 114(i) of the Customs Act, 1962. I refrain from impos-
ing any penalty under Section 114AA of the Customs Act on the no-
ticee.
(v) I confirm the demand of Rs. 20,884/- (Rupees twenty thousand
eight hundred and eighty four only) incurred towards the testing
charges of the export goods from the noticee under Section 145 of
the Customs Act, 1962.
2.1 Briefly the facts of the present case are that the appellant is a regis-
tered partnership firm carrying on the business of separation and processing of
beach sand minerals for export and they are Star Trading House and they have
processing units at Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin Districts in Tamil
Nadu and at Srikakulam District in Andhra Pradesh. They have purchased legal-
ly mined minerals from the State of Andhra Pradesh under the licences granted
under MMDR Act, 1957, lawfully transported to the processing plants after pay-
ment of royalty and stored the minerals in their bonded warehouses licensed
under Customs Act. Tamil Nadu Government issued G.O.(Ms.) No. 156, dated
8-8-2013 and G.O.(Ms) No. 173, dated 17-9-2013 directing the District Collectors
to stop the mining operation of all private mining lessees and the Assistant Di-
rectors (Mines) to stop issuing transport permits to the private mining lessees
pending completion of inspection by special team.
EXCISE LAW TIMES  15th May 2020  225