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2020 (12) TMI 204 - HC - CustomsNon renewal /extension of the Warehouse License - Demand of customs duty - goods were moved from one warehouse to another - injunction sought against the third respondent/defendant from interfering with the peaceful possession during the period of the lease - HELD THAT:- Section 58 enjoins upon the licensee a duty to clear off the goods after cancellation of the license within seven days. There is no case of extension of period under Sub-section (4) of Section 58B of the Act in the present case. Therefore, in the eye of law, the possession of the vacant licensed warehouse, after seven days of the impugned order passed by the Customs Authority on 29.05.2020, should be deemed to be with its owner only. Even assuming for argument sake that this observation may affect the right of the appellant/petitioner in the pending suit before the Civil Court, it is the appellant/petitioner who is to be blamed for this, because it is the appellant/petitioner who has invoked the extraordinary jurisdiction of this Court based upon an interim order passed by the trial Court. The said suit was filed much before the expiry of the lease period on 31.03.2020 and the interim order of status quo granted by the trial Court on 26.04.2019 also cannot extend beyond the extent of the period of lease itself nor it can validate the possession of the licensee beyond the period of lease. We do not see any reason to extend the scope of the civil suit, which may be so if the contention of the appellant/petitioner before us is to be accepted. There are no reason for the appellant/ petitioner to have invoked the writ jurisdiction of this Court on the basis of a status quo order granted by the trial Court in a civil Suit in which Customs Department was not at all a party. Nothing prevented him to even implead Customs Department also as Defendant in that very suit, so that all related issues could be adjudicated by one Court. This is what, the abuse of process of law is and if an observation of a learned single Judge in this process is given against the appellant/petitioner, he cannot be permitted to raise a plea against that in the intra court appeal. Appeal dismissed.
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