Amendment of section 110.
73. In section 110 of the Customs Act, ––
(i) in sub-section (1), for the proviso, the following provisos shall be substituted, namely:-
“Provided that where it is not practicable to remove, transport, store or take physical possession of the seized goods for any reason, the proper officer may give custody of the seized goods to the owner of the goods or the beneficial owner or any person holding himself out to be the importer, or any other person from whose custody such goods have been seized, on execution of an undertaking by such person that he shall not remove, part with, or otherwise deal with the goods except with the previous permission of such officer:
Provided further that where it is not practicable to seize any such goods, the proper officer may serve an order on the owner of the goods or the beneficial owner or any person holding himself out to be importer, or any other person from whose custody such goods have been found, directing that such person shall not remove, part with, or otherwise deal with such goods except with the previous permission of such officer.”;
(ii) after sub-section (4), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:-
“(5) Where the proper officer, during any proceedings under the Act, is of the opinion that for the purposes of protecting the interest of revenue or preventing smuggling, it is necessary so to do, he may, with the approval of the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs, by order in writing, provisionally attach any bank account for a period not exceeding six months:
Provided that the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend such period to a further period not exceeding six months and inform such extension of time to the person whose bank account is provisionally attached, before the expiry of the period so specified.”.
Notes on Clauses:
Clause 73 of the Bill seeks to amend sub-section (1) of section 110 of the Customs Act so as to substitute the existing proviso with two provisos so as to specify the conditions under which the custody of seized goods could be given to certain person. The amendment also seeks to specify the conditions, under which the custody of such goods, where it is not practicable to seize such goods, could be given to certain persons.
It is proposed to insert a new sub-section (5) so as to empower the proper officer to provisionally attach any bank account for safeguarding the Government revenue and prevention of smuggling, for a period not exceeding six months. It is also proposed that Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, extend the period of provisional attachment of a bank account to a further period not exceeding six months and inform the person whose bank account is provisionally attached before the expiry of the period so specified.
