IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD R/TAX APPEAL NO. 870 of 2008 ===============================================================

BIPIN SHANTILAL PANCHAL Versus COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS ===============================================================

Appearance:

MR BHARAT T RAO(697) for the Appellant(s) No. 1 MS HETVI H SANCHETI(5618) for the Opponent(s) No. 1 ===============================================================

CORAM:HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA and HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PRANAV TRIVEDI Date : 15/10/2025

ORAL ORDER

(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE BHARGAV D. KARIA)

1. Heard learned advocate Mr.Bharat T. Rao for the appellant and learned advocate Ms.Hetvi H.

Sancheti for the respondent.

2. This Appeal is filed under Section 130 of the Customs Act, 1962 against the Judgment and Order dated 11.05.2006 passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, West Zonal Bench, Mumbai (for short ‘the CESTAT’) in Appeal No.C/532/531/665 of 1999.

3. This Court by order dated 17.12.2019 admitted the Appeal on the following three substantial questions of law :

“(A) Whether the Tribunal is just and right to decide the appeal of the appellant ex parte when the appellant was in jail from 1993 to 2006?

(B) Whether the Tribunal is right in not considering the fact that the present appellant is in jail since November, 1993 in connection with the very case till 5.9.2006 till the Hon'ble the Supreme Court of India acquitted the present appellant and confirming the order of penalty of Rs.10 lacs imposed on the appellant in violation of the principles of natural justice?

(D) Whether the Tribunal is right in the facts and circumstances of the case to impose the penalty by impugned penalty order dated 11.5.2006 relying on the statement of co-noticee which was recorded by the D.R.I. Before issuance of show cause notice under the provisions of The Customs Act, 1962?”

4. The CESTAT disposed of total three Appeals arising out of the Order-in-Original No.10/COMMR/1999 dated 30th March, 1999 passed by the Commissioner of Customs, Ahmedabad. The other two Appeals disposed of by the CESTAT i.e. Tax Appeal Nos.927 of 2007 and 928 of

2007 were also tagged along with this Appeal.

5. This Appeal is disposed of separately as the appellant, who was a Doctor by profession and was found involved in manufacturing of contraband drugs, was convicted by the Trial Court and the Appeal filed by the appellant was also dismissed by this Court and the conviction was also upheld by the Hon’ble Apex Court in Criminal Appeal No.1477 of 2005 by order dated 7th September 2006.

6. The brief facts of the case are as under:

6.1. On receipt of the specific information, Office of Director of Revenue Intelligence, Bombay (for short ‘the DRI’) intercepted a consignment consisting of 10 cartons from the warehouse situated at Bombay Airport which were meant for export to Nairobi, Kenya.

6.2. The cartons were declared to contain Magnesium Trisilicate U.S.P tablets. However, on detailed examination of the contents of the cartons, it was noticed by the DRI that carton Nos.2, 3, 5, 6 and 8, out of 10 cartons which were serially numbered as 1 to 10, were found to contain 40 plastic containers in each carton and each container was found to contain light brown tablets bearing marking ‘M’ on one side and symbol of swastik on the other side. Therefore, some tablets were selected at random for testing with field testing kit available with DRI Officer which gave positive results for presence of Methaqualone, whereas, carton Nos.1, 4, 7, 9 and 10 were found to contain 50 plastic containers in each carton in which white colored tablets with no marking but showing a diametric line on one side were found and random samples of such tablets contained in carton No.2 were ascertained similar to the test of other contents.

6.3. Therefore, after drawing the representative samples from all 10 cartons, the same were placed under seizure under panchnama under the provisions of the Customs Act,