Confiscation of excisable goods can survive bona fide purchase where duty was not paid on original clearance.

Goods removed from a factory without payment of duty were treated as liable to confiscation under Rule 173Q of the Central Excise Rules, 1944, even where the buyer was a bona fide purchaser in the ordinary course of trade. Rule 52A was stated to be inapplicable on the facts, but the non-payment of duty attached a confiscatory liability to the goods themselves once the original unlawful clearance was established. The purchaser's good faith did not erase the defect in the earlier removal, and the cited authorities were distinguished on their facts and statutory setting.

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Issues: Whether confiscation of excisable goods was sustainable against a bona fide purchaser where the goods had been cleared without payment of duty, and whether Rule 52A(5) and Rule 173Q of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 applied in such circumstances.

Analysis: Rule 52A was held not to be attracted on the facts. However, the goods had been removed from the factory without payment of duty, and the liability to confiscation under Rule 173Q attached to the goods themselves once non-payment of duty was established. The bona fide character of the purchaser did not remove the taint arising from the original clearances. The cited decisions were distinguished on their facts and on the different statutory settings in which confiscation was considered.

Conclusion: Confiscation was upheld and the appeal failed.

Final Conclusion: Goods cleared without payment of duty can be confiscated under Rule 173Q notwithstanding purchase by a bona fide buyer in the ordinary course of trade.

Ratio Decidendi: Where excisable goods are removed without payment of duty, the liability to confiscation under Rule 173Q attaches to the goods, and a bona fide purchaser does not by itself defeat confiscation.

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