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2023 (11) TMI 1092 - GAUHATI HIGH COURTRefund of the value of the goods that were seized and confiscated - Auction of goods by the Customs Department - the order of seizure were set aside - petitioner claims for a refund of the complete value of the goods and not the value as per the auction - HELD THAT:- No material is placed by the petitioner before the Court to arrive at any conclusion that the estimated value stated in the order of seizure is also a determined value of the goods at the time of its seizure. As it is the petitioner who had procured the goods which were seized and confiscated and later on put up on auction, he would be the best person to have the knowledge about the actual value of the goods as it may have been. The same would also be in conformity with provision of Section 106 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. But as a dispute has been raised by the petitioner that he is entitled to the value of the goods as it stood on the date of seizure, the basic material to adjudicate the said issue would be what would be the value as may be determined as on the date when the goods were seized. In the absence of such material being available, it would be futile to decide the issue as to whether in a circumstance where the goods were sold by public auction, the petitioner would be entitled to a refund of the value of the goods as it stood on the day it was seized. In the meantime, liberty is granted to the petitioner to assail the auction of the goods that may have been done by the respondents in the Customs Department as regards the valuation of the goods and we are clarifying that the liberty to challenge the auction would be confined to a challenge to the value of the goods as determined in the auction - Petition disposed off.
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