Actual service of seizure notice within time is mandatory; substituted service cannot replace ordinary service absent genuine failure.

Section 79 of the Gold (Control) Act required notice to be given within six months of seizure as a condition affecting the owner's right to return of seized ornaments. The Court treated "given" as actual service on the owner or on a duly authorised agent, and found that the registered notice reached the petitioner only after the six-month period. Alleged delivery to the petitioner's brother was not proved, and his role in the shop did not establish authority to receive notice. Substituted service by affixation on the office notice board could not be relied on without showing that ordinary service was impossible or impracticable. The notice was therefore invalidly served within time, and the seized ornaments had to be returned.

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Issues: Whether the notice under Section 79 of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968 was served on the petitioner within six months of seizure so as to defeat the statutory right to return of the seized ornaments.

Analysis: Section 79 required that notice be given within six months from the date of seizure, and the Court treated "given" as requiring actual service on the owner or on a person duly authorised to receive it. The notice sent by registered post reached the petitioner after the six-month period. The alleged tender to the petitioner's brother was not proved, and his mere status as an employee looking after the shop did not establish that he was an agent or had authority to notice on the petitioner's behalf. The alternative mode under Section 113 could not validate affixation on the office notice board because it was resorted to without showing that service in the ordinary manner was impossible or impracticable.

Conclusion: The notice was not validly served within the prescribed period, and the petitioner became entitled to return of the seized ornaments under the second proviso to Section 79.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute requires notice to be given within a fixed period as a condition affecting seizure and confiscation proceedings, the notice must reach the owner or an authorised agent within that period, and substituted service cannot be relied upon unless the ordinary modes of service have genuinely failed.

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