Judgment

BHARGAVA, J.:- The appellants in these appeals were exporters of Jute Carpet Backing Cloth and, in connection with some exports by them between the period January 1957 to January 1963, penalties have been imposed on them under Sec. 167 (8) of the Sea Customs Act for contravention of Section 12 (1) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act No 7 of 1947 (hereinafter referred to as "the Act") in view of the provisions of Section 23A of the Act and Section 19 of the Sea Customs Act by the Adjudicating Officer. Their appeals to the Central Board of Excise and Customs (hereinafter referred to as "the Board") were dismissed, though the amounts of penalties imposed were reduced. The order of the Board dismissing the appeals has been challenged in these appeals before us by special leave.

2. The Board based its decision for upholding the penalties on the finding that the declarations given in purported compliance with Sec. 12 (1) of the Act were defective in two respects. One defect found was that, in the declarations, the invoice value of the goods was shown at a figure lower than the real sale value. The second defect found was that, in the declarations, it was stated that the invoice