No Fear of Vigilance - CBEC Tells Adjudicators

What is expected of an adjudicating authority and what happens when he does not oblige? Let me give the real episode:
DRI investigated the matter of overvaluation of textile items in the exports through Nhava Sheva port. One of the employees of an agent revealed in his statement that he was paying Rs. 1.50 per pc for the Supdt and Re 1 per pc for the Prev. Officer. The Prev. Officer stated that she reported orally to her Supdt that the goods were overvalued but he orally ordered her to give report that the goods are of fair value. The Show Cause Notice alleged that the Supdt. knowingly allowed the overvaluation of the goods but did not talk of the Prev. Officer. It is on record that the same Supdt. had refused to accept the report of the same Prev. Officer about the valuation and had referred the matter for investigation in the case of some consignments of the same group which attempted export of the goods seized by DRI. One other aspect to be noted is that the Prev. Officer physically examined the goods and the Supdt. did not examine any of the goods at all.
In these circumstances, the adjudicating authority relied on the following points:
i) that the Supdt. had earlier refused to accept the report of the Prev. Officer and discarded the Prev. Officer’s say that Supdt. orally ordered her to accept the values declared in the export documents.
ii) If the statement of the agent’s employee to be taken as correct, then the Prev. Officer also should have been charged for abetment.
iii) If the employee of agent says money was given, the exporter should have accepted to have sent the money without which the employee cannot have money to give.
iv) Supdt’s house was searched immediately but the Prev. Officer’s house was not searched and her statement was recorded after giving a week’s time.
For passing this order dropping the charges against the Supdt. the adjudicating authority, an Additional Commissioner of Customs was taken to task by DRI. They wrote to Directorate of Vigilance of the dept. to initiate disciplinary proceedings against him. What was unpalatable for DRI was the sentence “ less said the better about the investigation”.
On the same issue, for other consignments subsequently investigated by the local unit of the Nhava Sheva Customs, Show Cause Notices were issued making the Prev. Officer as a party. But not all the skeletons have been exposed from the cupboard.

18 cases are not needed to send the message. As the proverb says one stone drives away hundreds of crows!

sureshbala sureshbala 28/05/2015