The Customs Department has recovered around Rs 3 crore of Customs Duty from three importers who misutilised notification of various exemptions issued during Covid-19 pandemic by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
According to a senior Customs official, the Export Promotion Circle (EPC) under Customs department received a tip-off in Faridabad regarding an importer who was misutilising the notification.
“Acting on the tip-off an EPC team was dispatched for the spot who found that the importer was importing battery chargers which are not exempted in the notification. Around 33 lakhs were recovered from the importer as Customs duty,” said the official.
“In another case, a 100 per cent EOU manufacturer-importer was procuring the goods at nil rate of duty after taking benefit of exemption while the imported goods were being cleared 'as such' from the factory premises with short payment of Customs duty,” said the official.
“On being pointed out by Customs officers the importer has deposited an amount of Rs 31.54 Lakhs towards payment of Customs Duty. Further, enquiry is still going on and approximately duty amount of Rs 300 lakhs appears to be involved in the matter,” said the official.
“In the third case, the importer was procuring the imported goods on nil rate of duty after taking benefit of exemption. As informed by the importer, the goods procured by them had got lost due to fire at their factory premises, therefore, the importer had applied for remission of duty under section 23 of Customs Act, 1962,” said the official.
“The case was scrutinized by the officers of customs EPC and it was noticed that the goods in question were not entitled for remission of duty in accordance with Section 23 of the Customs Act, 1962. The same was pointed out to the importer who has now deposited an amount of Rs 234.67 lakhs towards payment of Customs Duty,” said the official.