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2013 (7) TMI 217 - HC - CustomsCancellation of the auction sale and return of the plant and machinery that was sold to the auction purchaser - allegation of auction sale of goods that were confiscated by the Customs Department in 1997 - Held that:- The proceedings that took place before the Court from time to time reveal that the Customs Department was unable to produce before the Court any inventory of the goods of YMIL which was drawn up at the time of confiscation in 1997. This is critical for considering the plea of the Customs Department for cancellation of the auction sale. What has been produced are B/Es and packing lists dated 1990 and 1991 regarding ‘capital goods’ and ‘raw materials’. In the absence of any inventory prepared by the Customs Department at the time of confiscation in 1997 it is not possible to verify whether the ‘capital goods’ described in the B/Es and packing lists nearly six years earlier to the confiscation, were the ones that were in fact confiscated. Secondly, in the absence of any mark on such ‘capital goods’ to indicate that they have been confiscated by the Customs Department, it is not possible to conclude that they were the ‘plant and machinery’ which were sold to and handed over to the auction purchaser in February 2007. In other words, there is nothing to verify that the goods which have been sold by auction sale in 2007 were in fact the very goods that were confiscated by the Customs Department in 1997. This Court is not inclined to entertain the prayer of the Customs Department for cancellation of the auction sale and return of the auction goods to the Customs Department. Correspondingly, petition filed by the auction purchaser is allowed. The auction purchaser is permitted to further sell the plant and machinery purchased by him in the auction sale and hand over possession thereof to the purchaser.
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