Calcutta High Court set aside punishment order by Customs Dept imposing penalty without any enquiry & adjudication
The Calcutta High Court set aside a punishment order by the Customs Department imposing a penalty without any enquiry and adjudication.
Background
In this matter, petitioner has challenged the impugned order passed by the respondent Commissioner of Customs in the case of the petitioner imposing several punishments including Punishment, imposing a penalty of Rs.1 crore under Section 112 (b) of the Customs Act on account of some past offences without initiating any proceeding and any adjudication order which is something unheard of and how an authority like a Commissioner can pass such order and it shows total non-application of mind on his part since impugned order of punishment on the aforesaid offence is not a part of subject matter of the impugned adjudication proceeding.
Decision
The single judge bench of Justice Md. Nizamuddin held that the aforesaid impugned order to this extent is bad, in total non application of mind and on the face of it, is not sustainable in law and accordingly, set aside the part of the punishment order imposing penalty for alleged past offence without any enquiry and adjudication.
Advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner contended that petitioner may file statutory appeal against the rest part of the order in accordance with law and considering his such prayer, the court said that no order is passed on all other punishments in the impugned adjudication order and petitioner will be at liberty to file such statutory appeal.
Case title: Shri Dharanidhar Ghosh v/s Union of India & Anr.
Citation: W.P.A. 3180 of 2022
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