Confiscation orders with redemption option remain appealable under the statutory appeal mechanism, despite alternative payment being allowed.

An order of confiscation passed under the seizure and confiscation provision, including an option to redeem the goods by paying tax and penalty, is treated as an order made under that provision. The availability of the redemption option does not convert the order into a mere preliminary step or exclude it from the statutory appeal mechanism. Accordingly, such an order is appealable under the relevant appeal provision, and the statutory right of appeal is not defeated because compliance with the option may prevent actual confiscation.

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Issues: Whether an order of confiscation of goods, coupled with an option to pay tax and penalty in lieu of confiscation, is an order passed under section 42(3) so as to be appealable under section 31.

Analysis: Section 42(3) empowers the officer to seize and confiscate goods and requires that, before confiscation, the affected person be heard and an enquiry be held in the prescribed manner. The provision also contemplates that, when confiscation is ordered, the person affected must be given the option of redeeming the goods by payment of tax and penalty, if any. The order in question was not a mere preliminary notice but an order made in the course of confiscation proceedings and therefore fell within the ambit of section 42(3). The right of appeal under section 31 attaches to any order passed under section 42(3), and it is not defeated merely because compliance with the option may prevent actual confiscation.

Conclusion: The confiscation order with the redemption option was appealable under section 31, and the revision petition failed.

Final Conclusion: The decision affirms the availability of an appeal against a confiscation order made under the check-post seizure and confiscation provision, even where the order allows redemption by payment of tax and penalty.

Ratio Decidendi: An order of confiscation that is made under a provision authorising seizure and confiscation, and which includes an option to pay tax and penalty in lieu of confiscation, is an order under that provision for purposes of the statutory appeal mechanism.

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