The Delhi High Court has upheld the penalty of Rs. 10 Lakh against the freight forwarder, Ravindra Kumar who was involved in illegal export of ‘red sanders’.
The bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Shail Jain has observed that the freight forwarder, Ravindra Kumar facilitated the procurement of documents, arranged for the issuance of airway bills in the name of the fictitious entity, and subsequently coordinated changes to consignor/consignee details and goods description to align with a fake baggage declaration.
The case arises out of a specific intelligence regarding illegal export of ‘Red Sanders’ which is stated to have been received by the Customs Department. Based on the intelligence, certain consignments were intercepted which on examination were found to contain ‘Red Sandal Wood’ or ‘Red Sanders’. However, the supporting documents which were filed in respect of the same had declared the goods therein as ‘household goods’.
Red Sandal Wood has been recognised as an ‘endangered’ species under the international convention CITES and without a proper valid export certificate it cannot be exported.
The baggage declaration which was filed in the name of Mr. Vipin Dua was investigated and it was found that the airway bill was booked in the name M/s Sikki Auto India Pvt. Ltd. The name itself was allegedly a forged name. One Mr. Sarvesh Kumar who was the Customs Broker had prepared all the documentation. Mr. Ravinder Kumar of M/s Vin Global Logistics was a freight forwarder who is also the Appellant before the Court. He had provided the documents to Mr. Mayank Gupta of M/s Sky Barge Freight Pvt. Ltd. who is another freight forwarder, who then filed the airway bill in the name of the fictitious company.
The entire consignment was seized and penalties were also imposed on various other individuals who were involved in the chain of preparing the documents for exporting as also the other entities involved. The Order was passed by the Adjudicating Authority imposing a penalty of Rs.10 lakhs on the Appellant.
A penalty of Rs.10 lakh has been imposed on the freight forwarder under Section 114 of the Customs Act, 1962. However, the prayer for imposition of further penalty under Section 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962 has been rejected.
The court after considering the role played by Mr. Ravindra Kumar, opined that a penalty of Rs.10 lakh, which has already been imposed and has been upheld by the Court, would be sufficient penalty. Further penalty under Section 114AA of the Customs Act, 1962 would entail five times the value of goods being imposed upon the freight forwarder.
Case Details
Case Title: Commissioner Of Customs Export Versus Ravindra Kumar
Case No.: CUSAA 114/2025 & CM APPL. 49742/2025, CM APPL. 49743/2025
Date: 18/09/2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Satish Aggarwala, SSC
Counsel For Respondent: Navneet Panwar, Adv
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