Home Case Index All Cases Customs Customs + HC Customs - 2015 (7) TMI HC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2015 (7) TMI 417 - HC - CustomsValidity of SCN - Proper officer - DRI officials have been appointed as customs officers - Seizure of 15.16kg of gold bars of foreign origin - confiscation and penalty - petitioner has retracted all the statements - whether the show cause notice has pre-determined the issue and it is the pre-meditated in nature - Held that:- the contention of the learned Senior Counsel that the insertion of sub-section (11) to Section 28 is only with regard to the power exercisable under Section 28 of the Act and would not apply to Section 124 is not tenable in the light of the fact that the notifications referred to supra states that all officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence to be Officers of Customs and the Notifications dated 26-4-1990, 6-7-2011 and 21-6-2012 and the Circulars dated 15-2-1999 and 23-9-2009, make it manifestly clear that DRI officials have been appointed as customs officers by in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 4(1) of the Act. Issuance of SCN - Held that:- an act or omission which will render the goods liable for confiscation under Section 111 or 113 of the Act, is an act of smuggling as defined under Section 2(39) and where there is smuggling, Chapter 14 would get attracted. Section 113 provides for confiscation of goods attempted to be improperly exported and Section 122 refers only to the question of adjudication process and the limit of officers and it is only under Section 124, which says that before confiscating the goods or imposing any penalty, the show cause notice should be given to the person concern. The show cause notice runs to 41 pages and most of which are the summary of the statements given by the petitioner and other co-noticees, the material which was recovered the result of the search conducted in the residence etc. Therefore, this Court has no hesitation to hold that the show cause notice is neither pre-meditated nor pre-conceived rather it is an attempt to place all the facts, which have been recorded by the officers of the DRI in the course of investigation. Therefore, by elaborately setting out all the facts in the show cause notice in fact provides full and effective opportunity to the petitioner to put forth his objections to the show cause notice, which will be adjudicated by a different officer and not the respondent, who issued the show cause notice. The Writ Petition fails and it is dismissed - Decided against the appellant.
|