VEEKAY LEATHER INDUSTRY Vs. DIRECTOR OF ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS order shall dispose of the second appeal filed under Section 54 of the foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 by the appellant aggrieved from the order dated 20th June, 1980 passed by the Assistant Director, Enforcement directorate, Agra, whereby a penalty was imposed upon the petitioner on account of not taking adequate steps to recover the money from a foreign buyer. The assistant Director imposed a penalty of Rs. 90,000/- which was reduced to rs. 60,000/- by the first Appellate Authority, that is, the Appellant Tribunal for Foreign Exchange, New Delhi vide its order dated 4th June, 2007. This is the order which is the subject matter of the present appeal.

(2.) ACCORDING to the appellant, this appeal raises the following questions of law:-

(3.) VARIOUS grounds have been taken by the appellant before this Court in assailing the order of the Appellate Tribunal. It is submitted that since the name of the buyer company was struck off from the register of the Registrar of companies on 3. 1. 1989 as per the notice in London Gazette on 24. 01. 1989 and which fact was reported to the appellant by an agency under the name and style of M/s JKR Credit Management Bureau, London, which is the agency recommended by the Indian High Commission, London, the appellant was not at fault. Moreso, because the L/c opened by the buyer expired after the goods were consigned by Air and the documents for collection were routed through the State Bank of India, who on their part sent a bill to the foreign Bank i. e. M/s Barclays Bank, London, but no payment was received by the state Bank of India despite writing various letters to the Foreign Bank for the reason that there was delay in sending the payment and also about the fate of the goods received by the foreign buyer.