Good-faith transferee protection limits forfeiture where prior exclusion and lack of notice made the order jurisdictionally invalid.

Property purchased in good faith for adequate consideration, and earlier accepted as outside the forfeiture schedule, could not validly be brought within fresh forfeiture and surrender directions under Chapter V-A of the NDPS Act. Because no notice was issued to the transferee and the competent authority failed to account for the prior exclusion, the later order was without jurisdiction. The availability of an appeal did not cure the jurisdictional defect or require relegation to the statutory remedy. The impugned forfeiture and consequential surrender directions were therefore set aside insofar as they covered the property.

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Issues: Whether the impugned forfeiture and surrender orders could stand in respect of property purchased by a transferee in good faith for adequate consideration, where the property had earlier been excluded from the forfeiture proceedings and no notice was issued to the petitioner.

Analysis: The property had been purchased in good faith for valuable consideration, and the material facts showing that it had been acquired before the relevant notice and had earlier been accepted as liable to exclusion were not disputed. The property had been treated by the competent authority as outside the forfeiture schedule, and no notice of the later proceedings was issued to the petitioner. In these circumstances, the competent authority was required to take the earlier exclusion into account before passing any fresh order. The forfeiture of property that was not liable to be proceeded against under Chapter V-A was therefore beyond jurisdiction. The availability of an appeal did not justify relegating the petitioner to the statutory remedy when the order itself suffered from want of jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The forfeiture and consequential surrender directions, to the extent they covered the said property, were without jurisdiction and were set aside in favour of the petitioner.

Ratio Decidendi: Property held by a transferee in good faith for adequate consideration, and earlier accepted as excluded from forfeiture proceedings, cannot validly be forfeited under Chapter V-A of the NDPS Act, and any such order is jurisdiction.

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