Legal principle

On the death of a sole proprietor, appeal proceedings abate under Rule 22 of the CESTAT (Procedure) Rules, 1982 unless continued by his legal representative, and a power of attorney holder cannot be substituted as the party liable, since customs duty is payable only by the importer and cannot be pursued against a dead person without enabling machinery provisions in the statute.

Court decision

The Tribunal held that the new case sought to be made against the power of attorney holder was outside the SCN and memorandum of appeal and could not be raised at the hearing; since no application for continuance was made by any legal representative, the proceedings against the deceased proprietor and his proprietary firm abate under Rule 22 of the CESTAT (Procedure) Rules, 1982. The appeal and both miscellaneous applications were disposed of accordingly, in favour of the respondent.

Facts

DRI alleged that M/s Unik Traders imported areca nuts and black pepper by falsely declaring Sri Lanka as the country of origin (the goods being merely transshipped through Sri Lanka) to claim duty benefits under ISFTA/SAFTA. SCNs dated 05.05.2019, a supplementary SCN dated 04.02.2020 and an SCN dated 13.08.2020 were issued to deny the exemption based on the Country-of-Origin certificate. The Principal Commissioner of Customs (General), Chennai, dropped the demand in both notices and discharged the noticees. Revenue appealed to the Tribunal, but during the appeal the sole proprietor, Hanif Thara, died on 21.06.2025 and his legal heirs sought abatement of the proceedings.

Key provisions

• Section 2(3a), Customs Act, 1962 — Definitions
• Section 12, Customs Act, 1962 — Dutiable goods
• Section 142, Customs Act, 1962 — Recovery of sums due to Government
• Section 108, Customs Act, 1962 — Power to summon persons to give evidence and produce documents