https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=180000 A retrospective amendment to Section 108 of the Customs Act could not validate summons issued by an officer who lacked authority when they were served, because criminal liability under Sections 174 and 175 of the Indian Penal Code required valid legal competence at the time of issuance. The court held that a later amendment may cure procedural competence, but it cannot retrospectively create an offence or punish prior non-compliance where the summons was invalid when issued. As ex post facto criminal liability is barred by Article 20 of the Constitution, the complaint disclosed no offence and the proceedings, including the summoning order, were liable to be quashed. en-us Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0530 Sat, 07 May 2016 14:29:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=180000 A retrospective amendment to Section 108 of the Customs Act could not validate summons issued by an officer who lacked authority when they were served, because criminal liability under Sections 174 and 175 of the Indian Penal Code required valid legal competence at the time of issuance. The court held that a later amendment may cure procedural competence, but it cannot retrospectively create an offence or punish prior non-compliance where the summons was invalid when issued. As ex post facto criminal liability is barred by Article 20 of the Constitution, the complaint disclosed no offence and the proceedings, including the summoning order, were liable to be quashed. Case-Laws Customs Wed, 06 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=180000