Home Case Index All Cases Customs Customs + HC Customs - 2023 (2) TMI HC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2023 (2) TMI 106 - GAUHATI HIGH COURTPower and function of Proper officers to issue Notice under the second proviso to Section 124 of Customs Act 1962 - notice issued by the Joint Director, DRI, is in consonance with the Notification No.25/2022 and Notification No.26/2022 or not - HELD THAT:- The Notification No.25/2022 dated 31.03.2022 has been issued in exercise of powers conferred by Section 3(1) of Section 4 and Section 5((1)(4)(5) of the 1962 Act, wherein the Joint Director, DRI has been invested with all powers of the Joint Commissioner of Customs. As per Notification No.25/2022 dated 31.03.2022, the Deputy Director and Assistant Director, DRI have been invested with the powers of the Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner of Customs - in terms of Notification No.26/2022, even a Joint Director, DRI, who is above the rank of Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner of Customs is a proper officer to issue a Notice under the second proviso to Section 124 of the 1962 Act. There is nothing in the Notification No.26/2022 showing that there is a bar on the Joint Director, DRI for issuing a Notice under Section 124 of the 1962 Act. In fact, Section 124 of the 1962 Act provides that no order, confiscating any goods or imposing any penalty on any person, shall be made under Chapter XIV of the 1962 Act, unless the owner of the goods or such person is given a notice in writing, with prior approval of the officer of Customs not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Customs, informing him of the ground which it is proposes to confiscate the goods or to impose the penalty. It clearly shows that there is no bar on the Joint Director, DRI to issue a notice under Section 124 of the 1962 Act. The petitioner is given the liberty to file her reply to the show-cause notice dated 23.09.2022 before the Joint Director, DRI, Guwahati, who shall thereafter transmit the same to the Adjudicating Authority under the 1962 Act - Petition dismissed.
|