Krishna Murari JUDGMENT
M.R. Shah, J.
1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order dated 01.09.2008 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in C.U.S.A.P. No. 27 of 2008 by which the High Court has dismissed the said appeal preferred by the Appellant-Assessee-M/s. Munjal Showa Ltd. filed Under Section 130 of the Customs Act and has confirmed the order passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the "Tribunal") confirming the demand of Customs Duty with interest, the original Assessee-M/s. Munjal Showa Ltd. has preferred the present Civil Appeal No. 2576 of 2010.
1.1. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with the impugned judgment and order dated 02.02.2011 passed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh in CUSAP No. 1 of 2011 by which the Division Bench of the High Court has dismissed the said appeal and has confirmed the judgment and order passed by the Tribunal in Custom Appeal No. 576 of 2006 by which the Tribunal has confirmed the demand of Customs Duty with interest, the original Assessee-M/s. Friends Trading Co. has filed the present Civil Appeal No. 5608 of 2011.
Civil Appeal No. 2576 of 2010
2. That the Appellant herein-M/s. Munjal Showa Ltd. imported consignments through ICD, Ballabgarh using Transfer Release Advices (hereinafter referred to as "TRAs") issued by the Bombay Custom House. On verification, it was found that the DEPB Licensees on the basis of which TRAs were issued, were not genuine. The goods were cleared in May/June, 2003 and by letter dated 05.08.2003, the Assistant Commissioner, ICD, Faridabad informed the Appellant that TRAs issued against the DEPB Scripps were forged and that the DEPB were also forged and, therefore, the Appellant was required to deposit the duty with interest in lieu of DEPB benefit availed by it.
2.1. The Appellant by letter dated 07.08.2003 informed the Department that it was surprised to learn about the forgery and was taking steps to lodge F.I.R. against the transferor and sought time to make payment. The Appellant deposited the amount of duty on 12.08.2003 under protest. After completion of investigation, show cause notice dated 03.10.2006 was issued to the Appellant alleging evasion of duty by seeking exemption against debits in releasing the advices, which were forged and which were not genuinely issued by the competent authority. The Appellant challenged the show-cause notice on the ground of limitation as well as on the ground that though the DEPB Scripps were forged but there was no intention to evade Customs Duty.
2.2. The Commissioner of Customs passed order dated 17.10.2007 holding that DEPB Scripps were forged and thus void