Commissioner of Customs, Lucknow vs Ashok Kumar Abrol

Satish Chandra, J.—Present petition has been preferred against the order dated 8-5-2002 passed by Customs, Excise and Gold (Control), Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi in Appeal No. C/18-19/2002/NB(S). Sri A.K. Singh holding brief of Sri Rajesh Singh Chauhan, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that on 2-1-1993, the Customs Officers have recovered three bags and a blanket belonging to one Sri Ram Kumar Mishra from a Bus. On search of the Bus, parts of the computer of third country origin were recovered. The statement of Sri Ram Kumar Mishra was recorded where he named Sri Chandra Prakash Khosla and Sri Ashok Kumar Abrol, the opposite parties. So, a show cause notice was issued. Later, the penalty of Rs. 25,000/- on Sri Chandra Prakash Khosla and Rs. 35000/- on Sri Ashok Kumar Abrol were made.

Being aggrieved, the opposite parties have filed appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) Customs and Central Excise, Ghaziabad/Allahabad and the Commissioner has allowed the appeal of the opposite parties. Not being satisfied, the Department had filed the appeal before the Tribunal, which was dismissed. Still being aggrieved, the Department-petitioner has filed the present writ petition.

None appeared on behalf of the opposite parries.

After hearing the learned counsel, it appears that in the statement, Sri Ram Kumar Mishra, submitted that he was falsely implicated in the case as he was not having cordial relations with the officers of the custom department. At the same time, fact remains that the items were recovered from the Bus. It was never stated that items recovered from the opposite parties who were also travelling in the bus. In the bus, there may be number of passengers along with their personal belongings. No red handed items were recovered from the opposite parties. So, the impugned order passed by the Tribunal appears reasonable. The same is hereby sustained along with the reasons mentioned therein.

Moreover, in the instant case, total amount involved is Rs. 60,000/-(sixty thousand) only. Unfortunately, the department-shamelessly has filed the present petition for this meager amount, where the litigation cost is much higher than the amount involved. The department is advised not to file such type of petitions in future, involving the petty amount. With the above observation, the writ petition is dismissed.