Law: Customs Act, 1969

Section: 209,32,32-A,79

(a) Customs Act (IV of 1969)--Ss.209, 32, 32-A 79--Liability of principal and agents--Mis- declaration--Fiscal fraud--Liability of Customs Agent--Scope-- Clearing Agent assailed the imposition of penalty by the department-- Validity--Department had imposed penalty under Cls. l(i), 14(ii), 14A 44 of S. 156(1) of the Customs Act, 1969, which were irrelevant-- Such clauses could be invoked for contravention of S. 32 of the Customs Act, 1969 and could not be invoked against the Customs Agents, not involved in any deliberate misdeclaration--Clearing Agent had limited liability under S. 209 and could not be held guilty under Ss.32 32A without conclusive proof--Role of Customs Agent was only to file the goods declaration on the basis of the documents furnished to him by his principal, hence he could not be punished for his association with the principal--Present case was neither a case of connivance nor collusion which needed a conspiracy to be hatched, however, no concrete evidence for it had been provided by the department--Penalty imposed on the Customs Agent was remitted and the order-in-original was modified accordingly to the extent of Customs Agent--Appeal was allowed, in circumstances. (b) Customs Act (IV of 1969)----Ss. 209, 32, 32-A 79--Liability of principal and agents--Mis-declaration--Fiscal fraud--Liability of Customs Agent--Scope-- Customs Agent files goods declaration on the basis of documents furnished to him by the principal, therefore, his job is to translate the facts of those documents into goods declaration and file it on behalf of the importer--Customs Agent, if found incorrectly depicting the facts from the documents provided to him by the Principal then he will be guilty owing to his failure to discharge his duties as per laid down criteria and parameters--However, if the Customs Agent files the goods declaration on behalf of his principal with due cud any error or lapse is detected by customs on the basis of the documents furnished by the principal, then such discrepancy would not be attributed to the Clearing Agent who has no role in negotiations with the exporter, shipping agent, bank transactions or signing any contract or agreement.…

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