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Informative

Absence of Mens Rea: CESTAT quashes Penalty imposed on CB [Read Order]

Update / Judgement Date

04 Jun 2024

Source

Taxscan

Author

Team — WCP Legal Desk

Reading Time

1 min read

Excise, VAT & Custom

CESTAT Chennai Bench annulled a penalty on a Customs Broker for lack of mens rea. The broker was implicated in facilitating an exporter's MEIS scheme misuse. Allegedly, the exporter misclassified safety matches for higher MEIS rewards. The tribunal referenced a similar case, where penalties were dropped. \r


P Dinesha, (Judicial), highlighted that although penalties under Section 114 were upheld in other cases, the precedent of deleting penalties for regulation violations (10(d) and 10(e)) was followed, citing M/s. Max Miller Agencies.