Page 200 - ELT_1st June 2020_VOL 372_Part 5th

734 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 372

cussions made above, I am of the view that the foreign markings on the carton
boxes/packings relate to the silver granules contained in them and, therefore, the
Circular dated 11-6-1990 cannot apply.
6.2 The appellant also relies upon ledger extracts/accounts to tentend
that silver was purchased by him. Shri Gaurav Agarwal has deposed that he had
purchased silver granules vide eight transactions from M/s. S.B. Ornaments Pvt.
Ltd., Agra, M/s. Nishant Silver Handicraft, Mathura and M/s. Prasanth Silver
Handicraft, Mathura. Appellant has produced some invoices and accounts to
support this. However all these sellers have issued letters to department stating
that the silver sold by them was in the nature of bar, and not granules. Learned
counsel has made a frail effort to counter this by stating that though bars might
have been supplied by the silver dealers, the appellant could have processed the
same into silver granules and then sent for job work to M/s. Vignesh Payals.
There is no evidence substantiate that processing charges were paid for convert-
ing the bar into granules which is a bulk quantity of 60 kgs. The statement of Shri
Gaurav Agarwal is totally silent on this aspect. At the cost of repetition it has to
be mentioned that the carton boxes which contained the silver granules correctly
mentioned the quantity in each box to be 10 kgs., the name of manufacturer, the
lot no., year of manufacture, purity etc. Further, it is a question to be answered
by the appellant as to whether the silver granules after being processed out of a
bar by the appellant retain such high purity. Thus the documents/accounts pro-
duced by appellant do not help the appellant to establish that the goods are not
of smuggled nature.
7. The decisions relied upon by the Learned Counsel for the appellant
are cases in which there were no foreign markings and, therefore, distinguisha-
ble. The decision in M/s. Murarilal Agarwal (supra) relied upon by the Learned
Counsel, is a case of silver bars of foreign origin weighing less than 46.7 kgs and
therefore is of no assistance to appellant. The appellant therein had produced
bills of entry to show that the silver bars were licitly imported. The appellant
here, has not been able to establish that the goods were licitly imported into In-
dia. In the case of M/s. Shambunath (supra) the Larger Bench was dealing with
silver which was not in the form of granules. The said case relates to 101 slabs
silver which varied in weight and purity, and entirely on different set of facts.
7.1 From the foregoing, I am of the view that the appellant has not been
able to establish that the silver was legally imported and suffered Customs duty.
In such circumstances, I find the confiscation of goods and penalties imposed are
legal and proper. The impugned order requires no interference. The appeal filed
by the appellant is, dismissed.
(Dictated and pronounced in the open Court)

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