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2018 (4) TMI 1342 - AT - FEMASeizure of bank account due of the suspicion that foreign exchange was suspected to be held outside India in contravention of Section 4 of the FEMA, 1999 - Liberalise Remittance Scheme (LRS Scheme) - Exercise of powers conferred upon him in terms of the provisions of Section 37A(1) of FEMA, 1999 - Held that:- The main error in the impugned order is that RBI scheme has not been discussed at all. The impugned order is totally silent about the scheme. The relevant circulars of RBI 2004 to 2007 have not been considered. When, it was pointed to Mr. Rana, he says that these are not applicable. The said arguments of Mr. Rana is without any force as the circulars speak for themselves and those are applicable. It is also a matter of surprise that the hearing were conducted by the Ld. Competent Authority in disjoint manner, separately for appellant and separately for complainant. The said practice is not a healthy practice in our system. It is apparent that the Competent Authority did not want to hear the matter in the presence of both parties. The Competent Authority has violated the principles of natural justice by not affording cross-examination of respondent authority while passing the order by which the Appellant would have been able to establish the fallacy of allegations and also the fallacy of patent illegality of the order apart from exhibiting that there was no material nor the reason to believe as envisaged under Section 37-A(1) of FEMA, 99. In the nature of the seriousness of present case, the right to cross- examination would have been given in view of gravity of the matter. Had the said right been granted, there might have been different result. Rather in the present case, the adjudicating authority has issued the notice after the expiry of five months knowingly well that the proceedings were to be completed within the period of 180 days. Even no time left for the purpose of cross-examination of relevant witnesses. In the interest of justice equity and fairplay we allow the respondent to again verify the position as to whether the appellants have brought the entire amount of remittance within four weeks, from the date of the order after verification the amounts seized be released in the accounts of Appellants with YES Bank, Chhattarpur Branch, New Delhi within one week thereafter. The liberty is also granted to the respondent to move application for clarification if any pertaining to deposit of amount in question.
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