TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1986 (8) TMI 286
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....1 and foreign currency U.S. $ 420 and Singapore $ 585 under Sec. 111(d) (i) and (m) besides a penalty of Rs. 60,000/- under Sec. 112 of the Customs Act, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as the 'Act'). 2.  On the basis of information officers of the Custom House, Madras searched room No. 406, Hotel Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam, Madras on 2-4-1985 and found the appellant herein in occupation of the same. The authorities recovered two gold bars with foreign markings from underneath the bed in the room and one gold biscuit with foreign marking from the suitcase of the appellant. The officers also found Indian currency for Rs. 12,600/-, U.S. $ 420, Singapore $ 585 and S.B.I. Travellers' cheques I for the value of Rs. 24,000/- in the possess....
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....alid and the adjudicating authority is in error to have invoked the statutory presumption in terms of Sec. 123 of the Act against the appellant under the impugned order. In expatiating on this submission the learned counsel contended that in terms of Sec. 123 of the Act, the authorities would have jurisdiction to effect seizure of the goods only on a reasonable belief that they are smuggled goods and the appellant's room was searched in pursuance of the search warrant wherein no mention at all was made that gold was sE.C.R.eted in the room of the appellant. Inasmuch as the search was in pursuance of a warrant which merely stated that goods liable to confiscation were sE.C.R.eted in the room without specific mention of the article, the very ....
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....hall advert to the rulings later. The learned counsel also assailed the impugned order confiscating the Indian currency and foreign currency contending that there is no ray of evidence to prove and establish that the Indian currency and travellers' cheques represented the sale proceeds of smuggled goods and likewise, there was no evidence that the foreign currency namely U.S. and Singapore dollars were smuggled into the country by the appellant. 4.  The learned S.D.R. submitted that the seizure had been effected on a reasonable belief and the gold pieces under seizure being of foreign origin are notified goods under Sec. 123 of the Act and, therefore, it is for the appellant to prove and establish that they are not smuggled goods. I....
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....d the appellant ever take out an application for sending the said articles either for chemical examination or for examination by the Mint authorities. We do not find any substance in the argument of the learned counsel for the appellant that the seizure effected in this case was not on the basis of a reasonable belief within the meaning of Sec. 123 of the Act. It is not disputed that the appellant's room in question was searched by the authorities on the basis of information and on the basis of search warrant validly issued under law. Even if it was not specifically mentioned in the search warrant that the search was in connection with the information about foreign gold being kept in the room, the moment in the course of search the authorit....
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....facie justifies the said reasonable belief. A person carrying a large quantity of gold and found travelling without a ticket may well have raised a reasonable belief in the mind of the officer that the gold was smuggled. The object of travelling without a ticket must have been to conceal the fact that the person had travelled all the way from Calcutta at which place the gold must have been smuggled." In the present case, it cannot be gain said that the officer who effected the seizure was objectively satisfied about the contraband nature of the gold in question from the foreign markings found on them. "Reasonable belief" means belief founded on reason and not on caprice or fancy or speculation. The only question would be whether there wa....
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.... the appellant to lead evidence to show that he was away from the room at any particular point of time and the room was accessible to others during that time. We find from the evidence that one of the pieces of gold was actually kept in a cover and wrapped in the used cloth of the appellant and recovered from inside his suitcase. The learned counsel putforth a faint plea that the suitcase was open and therefore, any enemy of the appellant could have planted it. The suitcase was open when the appellant was very much present in the room and there is no evidence that the suitcase was kept open in the absence of the appellant. We, therefore, find on the evidence available on record that the appellant was in possession of the gold pieces with fo....