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2018 (7) TMI 1066 - HC - CustomsRelease of seized goods - Betel Nuts - power of DRI under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962 - prayer of the petitioner herein is that since the DRI authorities have kept the said huge amount of Betel Nut for over more than 2 (two) months, it should now be released to him considering it to be an unlawful seizure in abuse of the power vested under Section 110(1) of the Customs Act, 1962. Held that:- It is seen from the annexures that statement of the petitioner and other persons involved in the case have already been recorded under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 and that the respondents No. 2 and 3 being DRI Officials are not proper officers to decide provisional release of the seized goods seized under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 - Section 128 of the Customs Act, 1962 provides for an appeal against any such order passed by the authority concerned under the Customs Act and in the present case, it is only after issuing the show-cause notice to the petitioner to which the petitioner submitted his reply, the Additional Commissioner of Customs Department on consideration of the report dated 20.11.2017 of the Regional Plant Quarantine Station, Kolkata showed that the test sample of said seized betel nuts were found to be infested by fungus “Aspergillus sp.”, the concerned adjudicating authority under the Customs Act, 1962 rejected the prayer of the petitioner for such provisional release of the areca nuts seized in the present case. When a statutory forum is created by law for redressal of grievances, a writ petition should not be entertained ignoring the statutory dispensation and as Section 128 of the Customs Act, 1962 itself provides for an appeal against any order passed under the said 1962 Act before the appropriate authority as provided in the said Act - reliance placed in the case of Commissioner of Income Tax and Ors. Vs Chhabil Dass Agarwal [2013 (8) TMI 458 - SUPREME COURT]. This writ petition of the petitioner, being not maintainable, his prayer for provisional release of the seized article (areca nuts) cannot be considered - appeal dismissed being not maintainable.
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