Valuing Turtle shells as being 50% of value of live Turtles - valuation arrived at by department is without any sound basis
THE appellant imported through foreign post a sample consignment of turtle shells containing 48 pieces.
Inasmuch as since the appellant did not have the requisite permit from the export country in terms of the CITES agreement, to which India is a signatory and the item was a restricted item for importation, the same was absolutely confiscated and a penalty of Rs.25,000/- was imposed on the appellant under the provisions of Section 112(a) of the Customs Act, 1962.
The appellant filed an appeal before the lower appellate authority only to find his appeal dismissed.
Before the CESTAT, the appellant submitted that the cost of the sample itself is only USD 75/- corresponding to Indian Rs.3500/- whereas the adjudicating authority has adopted a value of Rs.1,50,000/- on the basis that the value of live turtles of equivalent weight would come to about Rs.2,75,562/- and, therefore, the value of shells could be taken as 50% of the value of the live turtles. Accordingly, the adjudicating authority had arrived at a value by Rs.1,50,000/- for the consignment under import and which the appellant submits does not stand to any logic or common sense and hence penalty imposed is not sustainable in law.
The Bench observed -
"5. From the impugned order, it is seen that the department has arrived at the value of the shells on the basis of value of live turtles and have assumed the value to be 50% of the value of live turtles. The department does not seem to have made any efforts to ascertain the value of turtle shells. If turtle shells are tradable items, the department could have easily found out what is the price prevalent in the international market for such turtle shells. In the absence of any such efforts made by the department, the valuation of Rs.1,50,000/- arrived at by the department without any sound basis is not sustainable in law. Therefore, the plea of the appellant that the consignment which they got free-of-cost from the foreign supplier is of value of Rs.3500/- only in the international market has to be accepted. If this is done, the imposition of penalty of Rs. 25,000/- on the appellant cannot be justified. Nevertheless, since the item imported is a restricted item and is prohibited for the purpose of imports into India and is governed by CITES agreement, the appellant needs to be penalized for violating the provisions of law. Accordingly, I reduce the penalty imposed on the appellant to Rs.2500/-."
The appeal was disposed of in the above terms.
Incidentally, possessing a turtle shell is considered as harbinger of good luck… true for the appellant, at least.