The HC declined to exercise discretionary jurisdiction to stay...

The HC declined to exercise discretionary jurisdiction to stay or quash the show-cause notice issued against the Petitioner in relation to the alleged smuggling of gold. The Court found no basis to prima facie conclude the Petitioner intended to smuggle gold into India but upheld that the customs authorities had sufficient grounds to raise suspicion, given the Petitioner's repeated carriage of commercial quantities of gold and reliance on the Customs Notification dated 30 June 2017. The gold was lawfully seized pending investigation. The Court emphasized that the show-cause notice must be adjudicated on its merits without influence from this order, which addressed only the question of interim relief. The petition was accordingly dismissed, leaving the substantive adjudication to the customs authorities.

---