CUSTOMS, EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL NEW DELHI PRINCIPAL BENCH- COURT NO. I CUSTOMS APPEAL No. 58485 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)

Cargo Placement & Shipping Agencies Pvt. Ltd. .…Appellan Plot No. 104, Basement Arya Bhawan Road No.4, Mahipalpur Extn.

New Delhi Versus Commissioner of Customs, .…Respondent ICD Tughalkabad New Delhi APPEARANCE Shri Ashwani Bhatia and Ms. Anjali Gupta, 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’s. 50266/2026 JUSTICE DILIP GUPTA :

This appeal has been filed by M/s Cargo Placement and Shipping Agencies Private Limited¹ to assail that portion of the order dated 31.03.2013 passed by the Commissioner ICD, TKD, New Delhi2 that imposes penalty upon the appellant under section 112(a)(i) of the Customs Act, 1962³ for acts of omission and commission as it failed to discharge statutory obligation and became a party to the misdeclaration and illegal import.

1 the appellant

2. the Commissioner

3. the Customs Act

2. The appellant is a customs broker and was issued a licence under the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004⁴. Shri Krishan Kumar is a G-Card holder of the appellant. Shri Sanjay Kumar is the Gneneral Manager of the appellant. The allegation against the appellant is that it failed to perform duty and exercise supervision to ensure proper conduct of employees in terms of regulation 19 of the 2004 Regulations and thus was liable to action in terms of regulation 20 of 2004 Regulations.

3. The relevant portion of the show cause notice dated 03.02.2011 is reproduced below :

“76. Investigation reveals that Shri Krishan Kumar was a G card holder with M/s Cargo Placement & Shipping Agency and he, on the instance of pursuing by Shri Lokesh Garg, Shri Manish Jalhotra and Shri Kamal Sehgal has filed Bill of Entry in respect of five containers on the directors of Shri Sanjay Kumar, is Company’s General Manager and all the documents were handed over to him by Shri Sanjay Kumar. Shri Krishan Kumar is a valid 'G' Card holder issued by Customs. It was the responsibility of the person holding the G card to take proper documents and apply due diligence to ascertain the genuineness of the persons and the correctness of the documents on the basis of which he was filing the documents in Customs in terms of Customs House Agents Licencing Regulations, 2004. However, from the investigation it appears that Shri Krishan Kumar has failed to take proper documents and did not even verify the antecedents of the person for whom he has filed the check list for Bill of Entry. Thus it appears that Shri Krishan Kumar has helped out Shri Lokesh Garg, Shri Manish Jalhotra and Shri Kamal Sehgal in smuggling of goods of foreign origin in the manner as discussed above. Thus he appears to be liable to penal action under

4 the 2004 Regulations with Section 112 of Customs Act, 1962. From the above, it appears that Shri Krishan Kumar has failed to maintain proper conduct in transaction of business as an agent of CHA and M/s Cargo Placement & Shipping Agency, the CHA appears to have failed to perform duty to exercise such supervision as may be necessary to ensure the proper conduct of his employees in terms of Regulation 19 of Customs House Agents License Regulations, 2004 and thus liable to action in terms of Regulation 20 of Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004.

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 t