RAKESH GULATI Vs. CC

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE above captioned appeals have been preferred by the appellants against the common Order -in -original dated 14.2.2002 passed by the Commissioner of Customs.

(2.) THE facts out of which the present appeals arise, briefly are as under:

(3.) SHRI Rakesh Gulati, appellant himself also appeared before the officers of DRI on 3.10.2000 and disclosed that he was carrying on business of sale and purchase of crockery at shop No. 87 -A, Kamla Nagar, Delhi and that his brother -in -law Sanjay Khurana (appellant No. 2) sits on that shop and that seized air conditioners belonged to his brother -in -law Sanjay Khurana, appellant, who had imported in the name of the firm M/s. Ashirwad International. He also stated that seized crockery sets belonged to him and that he had purchase the same from the market. Similarly, Sanjay Khurana, appellant also made statement before the officers of DRI wherein he also disclosed that he was working as salesman on the Cutlery and Crockery shop of his brother -in -law Rakesh Gulati, appellant, at a salary of Rs. 5,000/ - per month. He also disclosed that firm M/s. Ashirwad International had been started by him. Rakesh Gulati, appellant thereafter also disclosed in his statement, of having purchased the seized crockery from the crockery dealer of Jaipur namely Vijay Kumar Gandhi and produced photo copies of documents in that regard. On completion of investigation, show cause notices to the present appellants as well as Sanjay Jain (described as noticee No. 3 in the impugned order), were issued for the confiscation of the seized goods under Section 111 of the Customs Act and for imposition of penalty under Section 112(b) of the Act. Rakesh Gulati, appellant in reply to that show cause notice submitted that he had purchased the seized crockery sets from Vijay Gandhi who imported two containers of crockery in the name of M/s. Quick International. Similarly, Sanjay Khurana, appellant, in his reply submitted that seized A.Cs. were imported vide B/E No. 129748 dated 8.6.2000 under 'O General' Brand 1.5 Tons window type. He also mentioned in the reply that these were window type air conditioners of Thailand origin. He also annexed copies of the catalogue for the year 2000. He even mentioned in that reply, that name of the supplier company mentioned on the tally plates, Fujitsu General Ltd., Kawasaki Japan, has been misconstrued and misread, so as to believe that the seized air conditioners were of Japan origin. The third noticee Sanjay Jain denied his business relations with both these above mentioned appellants and alleged in the reply that he rented out in goods faith his godown to Rakesh Gulati, appellant and was not aware of the nature of the goods stored in the godown.