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FEMA - Case Laws
Showing 1 to 5 of 5 Records
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2019 (4) TMI 1355
Offence under FEMA - writ petition in the High Court against the Union of India and sought therein a writ of mandamus claiming refund of the pre-deposit amount - High Court allowed the appeals, set aside the order of the Tribunal and restored the order of the Adjudicating Authority - Whether the High Court was justified in allowing the appeals filed by the Union of India.
HELD THAT:- High Court did not examine the case of the parties in the context of material placed by the appellants, though the Tribunal in Para 29 of its order has considered the said material.
High Court should have taken into consideration the said material with a view to decide as to whether it was relevant or/and sufficient, and whether it could justify the appellants’ case as contemplated under Section 8 of FEMA.
High Court seemed to have proceeded on wrong assumption that since the appellants did not file any material, a case was made out against them. This observation of the High Court, in our view, was contrary to the record of the case and hence, interference in the impugned order is called for.
The proper course in such a case would be to remand the case to the High Court and request the High Court to decide the appeal afresh on merits in accordance with law.
Appeals succeed and are accordingly allowed. The impugned order is set aside. The case is remanded to the High Court for deciding the appeals afresh on merits in accordance with law keeping in view the observations made above.
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2019 (4) TMI 1088
Cancellation of the Passport - investigation being conducted under FEMA - Request for an alternate mode of examination by video conferencing - HELD THAT:- In the present case, the petitioner is a non-resident Indian and contends that the provisions of FEMA are inapplicable. Notwithstanding the aforesaid contention, Mr. Tripathi, learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner had made a statement before this Court on 14.08.2018 that the petitioner would provide all documents as required by the respondents even though, according to the petitioner, the same are not required to be disclosed.
It is not disputed that in compliance with the aforesaid order, the petitioner has supplied all documents that were called for by the ED. This Court had, during the course of proceedings, also pointedly asked Mr. Amit Mahajan, learned counsel for the respondents that whether there was any other document that was required by the ED. Although, he did not dispute that all documents had been provided, he nonetheless submitted that the petitioner was required to be confronted with certain documents and, therefore, his presence was necessary.
The petitioner had voluntarily agreed to appear by teleconferencing and also make all arrangements for the same, however, that was not accepted. In this regard, the Division Bench of this Court in Lalit Kumar Modi [2014 (10) TMI 527 - DELHI HIGH COURT] had observed that FEMA did not entail custodial interrogation and, therefore, a request for an alternate mode of examination by video conferencing ought not to be shrugged aside
This Court is of the view that the controversy involved in the present petition is covered by the decision of the Division Bench in Lalit Kumar Modi [2014 (10) TMI 527 - DELHI HIGH COURT] and the petitioner’s passport could not be suspended in public interest.
In terms of Section 10(1)(e) of the Passports Act, a passport can be cancelled in cases where offence alleged to have been committed by the holder of passport is pending before a criminal court in India. Further, in terms of Section 10(3)(h) of the Passports Act, a passport can be cancelled if a warrant or summons for the appearance, or a warrant for the arrest, of the holder of the passport has been issued by a Court under any law for the time being in force.
Criminal prosecution as contemplated under Section 13(1C) of FEMA can be commenced by filing a criminal complaint. Plainly, if such a complaint is filed and summons are issued by a competent court, the passport facilities provided to the accused could be withdrawn by virtue of Section 10(3)(h) of the Passports Act.
Impugned order suspending the petitioner’s passport is set aside. However, it is clarified that respondent no.3/ED is not precluded from initiating any other proceedings as permissible in law.
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2019 (4) TMI 592
Detention orders u/s 3 read with Section 12A of COFEPOSA - orders made during the period of Emergency proclaimed under Article 352(1) of the Constitution of India - grounds of detention were not communicated to the detenu in a language known to him - notice under Section 6(1) of SAFEMA to show cause why properties be not declared to be illegally acquired properties and forfeited to the Central Government under the provisions of SAFEMA - HELD THAT:- In the present case the order of detention under COFEPOSA was passed on 19.12.1974 and the petition challenging the detention was filed on 29.04.1975 i.e. before the proclamation of emergency was issued on 25.06.1975. The detenu was released after the lifting of the emergency. All through, the Writ Petition was alive and pending in High Court and it was disposed of as having become infructuous on the statement made by the counsel for the Writ Petitioner on 24.02.1978. The instant case is thus covered by para 41 of the decision of this Court in Amratla [1994 (5) TMI 235 - SUPREME COURT]. However, since the matter was remitted by this Court on 24.02.2004, to be disposed of on merits, we now proceed to consider whether merits were rightly considered.
The order of detention in this case was not revoked under any of the postulates of the proviso nor was it set aside by any competent court and as such the provisions of SAFEMA must apply. The High Court was right in observing that the detention “had run right through the duration or continuance of the emergency”. Though the petition was pending during the length of this time and was taken up for hearing after the lifting of the emergency, no attempts were made to have the petition disposed of on merits. Pertinently, the notices under SAFEMA were issued to Roshan Lal and his wife Sheelawati while the possibility that the SAFEMA proceedings could be premised on the validity of the detention order was very much alive and yet, the matter was chosen not to be agitated on merits. The criticism of Mr. Bagai, learned Advocate that the High Court had overruled the order dated 24.02.2004 passed by this Court, is totally incorrect. Nonetheless, we proceed to consider the submissions raised by Mr. Bagai, learned Advocate regarding challenge on merits.
In the present case, the representation dated 17.01.1975 was considered by the State on 11.02.1975 and the rejection was communicated to the detenu. Moreover, at no stage, any grievance was raised that the grounds of detention were not communicated to him in a language known to him. Similarly, the submission that the grounds of detention were identical, is also without any merit. Insofar as the order of detention under COFEPOSA was concerned, the grounds dealt with instances where the detenu had indulged in smuggling of goods, on the basis of which subjective satisfaction was arrived at as regards his propensity to deal in smuggled goods. Having considered the factual aspects of the matter, the grounds raised by Mr. Bagai, learned Advocate are without any substance and merit. We, therefore, affirm the view taken by the High Court and dismiss said submission.
The challenge to order of detention dated 19.12.1974 passed under the provisions of COFEPOSA in respect of Roshan Lal must fail. The Competent Authority and the Appellate Tribunal constituted under the provisions of SAFEMA had, after issuance of due notice and granting every opportunity to the noticees, arrived at findings that the properties mentioned in the schedules to the notices were illegally acquired and that they stood forfeited to the Central Government free from all encumbrances. All the prayers made in Civil Writ Petition being meritless said Writ Petition deserved to be rejected and was rightly dismissed by the High Court. No reason to take a different view in the matter and this Criminal Appeal is dismissed.
Detention under Section 3(1) of COFEPOSA - HELD THAT:- The detention order was sought to be assailed before the High Court inter alia on the grounds of non-supply of documents; delay in passing the order of detention and supply of illegible documents. Those grounds were found to be without any substance by the High Court and the challenge so raised was negated. Having gone through the record, we do not find any error in the view taken by the High Court. We, therefore, dismiss this Appeal.
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2019 (4) TMI 332
Guilty pf provisions of section 8 and section 40 of FERA - diaries relied upon by the prosecution as an evidence - HELD THAT:- The present proceedings are an offshoot of the "Jain Hawala Diaries‟ case [2013 (8) TMI 400 - DELHI HIGH COURT] which ended in quashing of the criminal proceedings as a result of the judgment of the Hon‟ble High Court in L.K. Advani vs. CBI [1997 (4) TMI 524 - DELHI HIGH COURT] wherein, it was held that the diaries relied upon by the prosecution are inadmissible in evidence and cannot be called books of accounts.
On the basis of the entries of the dairy M-207/93 two criminal complaints bearing CC No. 61/1/91 and 107/1/96 were filed before the ACMM. After the recording of the pre-charge evidence the Trial Court has discharged the present Appellant and the same has been upheld by the appellate court on the ground that the said entries are inadmissible in evidence as no case is made out based on the same. The same was decided on merit. The said order of discharge has not been set-aside as of today.
It is a settled law that the rulings of the Supreme Court are binding under Article 141 of the Constitution of India, wherein a higher court has rendered a particular decision, said decision must be followed by a subordinate or a lower court unless it is distinguished or over-ruled or set aside.
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2019 (4) TMI 138
Contravention of the provisions of Section 18(2) & 18(3) of FERA, 1973 - failure to realize the export proceeds - HELD THAT:- Appellant neither has the finances to carry on a protracted litigation in Doha, Qatar. (Additional affidavit in this regard has also been filed).
The Appellant has addressed numerous letters to its Advocate Ahmed Ali Morafi to enquire about the current status of the matter but unfortunately had not received any written response from him. The Appellant has also tried to contact the said advocate on his phone number mentioned in his letter head but is unable to reach him on the same.
It has come on record that even after taking all reasonable steps, it is quite evident that the export proceeds could not be realized for reasons /due to circumstances which were beyond the control of the Appellant. Department has not been able to prove that certain acts on part of the Appellant resulted in the non-realization of the export proceeds.
As submitted on behalf of appellant that the total number of Appellant during the period during the period during the financial year 1992-93 to 1995-96 was ₹ 5.61 crores. There is no outstanding bills of the Appellant with their Banker for the financial years 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000) and the said fact has been certified by Global Trust Bank Ltd. The unrealized amount of ₹ 17,85,835/- does not constitute even 5% of the total turnover. The Appellant is entitled for write-off of the unrealized export proceeds as per RBI Circular No.88 dated 12.03.2013.
Under these circumstances and in the light of above, it is evident that it is held that the Appellant has taken all sufficient, reasonable and timely steps which are legally permissible within their limited means and to realize the unpaid export value.
The Appellant has discharged the burden cast upon him under Section 18(2) r.w. 18(3) of FERA, 1973. In this context the appellant seeks to rely upon the decisions of the Hon‟ble Delhi High Court in Ganesh Polytex Ltd. and Ors. Vs. Union of India (UOI) and Ors. [2010 (9) TMI 463 - DELHI HIGH COURT]
The appeal is allowed, the benefit is given to the appellant who should not be penalized for non-repatriation of the full export value within the prescribed period, the appellant is exonerated from the allegations made in the SCN dated 29.06.2001. The impugned order is set-aside.
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