CUSTOMS, EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL NEW DELHI PRINCIPAL BENCH- COURT NO. I CUSTOMS APPEAL No. 58059 of 2013 (Arising out of Order-in-Original No. 09/2013 dated 31.03.2013 passed by the Commissioner of Customs, ICD, Tughlakabad, New Delhi)

Sanjay Kumar Singh .…Appellant

187-C,Gali Arya Samaj Mandir, Rani Ka Bagh, Amritsar-143001 Punjab Versus Commissioner of Customs .…Respondent ICD, Tughalkabad NEW DELHI APPEARANCE Shri B.K. Singh and Ms. Vandana Singh, advocates for the appellant Shri Mukesh Kumar Shukla, authorised representative of the department CORAM : HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE DILIP GUPTA, PRESIDENT HON’BLE MR. P. V. SUBBA RAO, MEMBER (TECHNICAL)

Date of Hearing : 06.01. 2026 Date of Decision : 12.02.2026 FINAL ORDER NO. 50264/2026 JUSTICE DILIP GUPTA :

This appeal has been filed by Sanjay Kumar Singh¹ to assail that portion of the order dated 31.03.2013 passed by the Commissioner ICD, TKD, New Delhi² that imposes a penalty of Rs. 10 lakhs on the appellant under section 112(a)(i) of the Customs Act, 1962³ for acts of omission and commission in abetting in the filing of Bill of Entry dated 04.02.2010 in the name of M/s Jay Sales Organisation, which is said to be a non-existing/ bogus firm.

1. the appellant

2. the Commissioner

3. the Customs Act

2. The appellant is a General Manager of M/s Cargo Placement & Shipping Agency. It is stated that the appellant in his statement made on 13.03.2010 under section 108 of the Customs Act admitted that he had given documents received from Lokesh Garg and Manish Jalhotra to Krishan Kumar, a G-Card holder, to file the Bill of Entry without taking sufficient documents and without verifying the genuineness of the persons and the signatures of the IEC and thus was instrumental in abetment of smuggling goods of foreign origin by Lokesh Garg and others.

3. It would be useful to first examine the relevant portion of the show cause notice that relates to the allegations made against the appellant and paragraph number 80 of the show cause notice is reproduced below:

“80. Shri Sanjay Kumar, GM of M/s Cargo Placement & Shipping Agency in his statement dated 13.03.2010 recorded under Section 108 of Customs Act, 1962 admitted that he has given documents received from Sh. Lokesh Garg and Sh. Manish Jalhotra through Shri Kamal Sehgal to Shri Krishan Kumar G Card holder to file Bill of Entry without taken sufficient documents and without verifying the genuineness of the persons and also the genuineness of the IEC on the basis of which he asked his G Card holder person i.e. Shri Krishan Kumar to file the Bill of Entry and thus became instrumental in abetment of smuggling of goods of foreign origin by Shri Lokesh Garg and others as discussed above. Further his malafide appears to be corroborated with the fact that in spite of being CHA company having EDI facility to file the Bill of Entry from his office through the EDI login provided to him, he asked Shri Krishan Kumar to file the Bill of Entry from CMC to avoid detection by the Customs as well as from his company's own management system. Thus he knowingly with the help of Shri Krishan Kumar appears to be abetted in the smuggling of goods of foreign origin rendering himself of penal action under Section 112 of Customs Act, 1962. Shri Sanjay Kumar also failed to exercise due diligence to ascertain the correctness of any information which he imparted to the importer as above. Thus it appears that the act of Shri Sanjay Kumar as discussed above render M/s Cargo Placement and Shipping Agency liable for suspension of his CHA License in terms of Regulation 20 of Customs House Agents-Licensing Regulations, 2004.”

(emphasis supplied)

4. A perusal of the show cause notice indicates that allegations have been made against the appellant on the basis of the statement made by the appellant on 13.03.2010 under section 108 of the Customs Act and from the said statement an inference has been drawn that the appellant had abetted the smuggling of goods of foreign origin.

5.