Deeming provisions and customs penalties do not bar later prosecution under the applied penal provision

A deeming provision in the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act extended Sea Customs Act restrictions to foreign exchange contraventions, so the later amendment introducing Section 167(81) could apply to breaches of Section 8(2). Confiscation and penalty under customs law did not exclude criminal proceedings under the penal provision, because Section 186 preserved liability to punishment under other law and the scheme allowed customs adjudication and prosecution to coexist. The legal objections therefore failed, while sentence reduction was considered only because confiscation and penalty had already been imposed.

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Issues: (i) Whether Section 167(81) of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 applies to a contravention of Section 8(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947; (ii) Whether Section 186 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 precludes proceedings under Section 167(81) where goods have been confiscated and penalty has been levied.

Issue (i): Whether Section 167(81) of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 applies to a contravention of Section 8(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947.

Analysis: Section 23-A of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 declared that the restrictions under Sections 8(1) and 8(2) were to be deemed to have been imposed under Section 19 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878, and that all the provisions of that Act were to have effect accordingly. The broad words and the use of legal fiction did not amount to a mere frozen incorporation of the Sea Customs Act as it stood in 1952. The later amendment introducing Section 167(81) was therefore capable of applying to breaches of the restrictions under Section 8(2).

Conclusion: Yes. Section 167(81) of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 applies to contraventions of Section 8(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947.

Issue (ii): Whether Section 186 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 precludes proceedings under Section 167(81) where goods have been confiscated and penalty has been levied.

Analysis: Section 186 preserves liability to punishment under any other law after confiscation or penalty under the Sea Customs Act, 1878. The scheme of Sections 182 to 187 shows that civil adjudication by customs officers and criminal prosecution under the penal entries in Section 167 may coexist. Confiscation and penalty under the customs law do not bar prosecution under Section 167(81), and the provision does not create an implied exclusion of magistrate-triable offences under the same Act.

Conclusion: No. Section 186 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 does not bar proceedings under Section 167(81) after confiscation and penalty.

Final Conclusion: The legal objections failed, the conviction was sustained on the merits, and only the sentence was reduced in view of the confiscation and penalty already imposed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute uses a deeming provision to apply another enactment's restrictions, later amendments to the applied enactment can operate on that field unless the language clearly excludes them, and confiscation or penalty under customs law does not by itself bar criminal prosecution under an applicable penal provision.

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