Foreign currency confiscation for non-declaration requires consideration of redemption and a full review of the unspent-balance plea.

Foreign currency carried by a passenger may be liable to confiscation for non-declaration and concealment, but where the currency is not prohibited goods the adjudicating authority must consider redemption on payment of fine. The record also required a full examination of the plea that the seized amount represented the unspent balance of an earlier declared import. Because that plea had not been properly considered, the confiscation and penalty were not finally sustained in absolute terms, and the matter was remanded for de novo consideration, including the question of redemption.

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Issues: Whether the confiscation of foreign currency and penalty could be sustained without considering redemption on payment of fine and whether the matter required remand for fresh consideration of the appellant's plea that the currency was the unspent balance of earlier declared import.

Analysis: The majority found that the record showed prior import of foreign currency and issuance of a currency declaration form, but also that the currency seized at departure had not been declared and had been concealed in baggage. At the same time, the adjudication had proceeded on the footing that the currency was the same amount earlier declared, and the appellant's plea that it was the unspent balance had not been fully examined. The majority held that the currency was liable to confiscation, but since import of foreign currency by a passenger was not prohibited, the adjudicating authority was required to consider release on redemption fine. In these circumstances, and in view of the need to reconsider the appellant's pleas, the matter was held fit for remand.

Conclusion: The confiscation and penalty were not finally upheld as absolute. The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded for de novo consideration, including consideration of redemption of the seized currency on payment of fine.

Ratio Decidendi: Where foreign currency carried by a passenger is not prohibited goods, confiscation may be sustained for non-declaration, but the adjudicating authority must consider the statutory option of redemption on payment of fine and cannot proceed on an incomplete examination of the plea that the currency represents the unspent balance of a prior declaration.

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