Confiscation-linked penalty under the Gold Control Act failed where stamped ornaments did not amount to a statutory contravention.

A penalty under Section 74 of the Gold Control Act, 1968 was treated as unavailable where ornaments had been stamped under Section 30 but the assayed purity was lower than the purity stamped. The note states that Section 30 required stamping by a licensed dealer certifying purity, and the mere mismatch between stamped and actual purity was not treated as a contravention on the statutory scheme then in force. As confiscation under Section 71 depended on a contravention of the Act, and penalty under Section 74 could follow only where the gold was liable to confiscation, the absence of contravention meant neither confiscation nor penalty was sustainable.

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Issues: Whether a penalty under Section 74 of the Gold Control Act, 1968 could be sustained where the ornaments were stamped under Section 30 but the assayed purity was lower than the purity stamped on them.

Analysis: Section 30 required stamping of ornaments by a licensed dealer certifying the purity of gold. The ornaments in question were admittedly stamped, and the departmental case was not that they lacked stamping. The variation complained of was only that the actual purity was lower than the purity stamped. On the statutory scheme then in force, such a variation was not treated as a contravention of Section 30. Since confiscation under Section 71 depended upon contravention of the Act, and penalty under Section 74 could be imposed only where the gold had become liable to confiscation, the absence of a contravention meant that neither confiscation nor penalty was sustainable.

Conclusion: The penalty was not leviable and the impugned order could not be sustained against the appellant.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the penalty order was set aside with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Penalty under a confiscation-linked provision cannot be imposed unless the conduct complained of amounts to a contravention making the goods liable to confiscation under the governing statute.

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