TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1987 (11) TMI 184
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....ments to the Gold Control authorities as provided under the said Act. The appellant, however, contended before the adjudicating officer that he was not the sole owner of the gold ornaments found from his possession and some of the gold ornaments seized from his premises belonged to various other persons as follows :- (1) Mother - 1,581 gms. (1,224 gms. Net) (2) Daughter - 108 gms. (96 gms. Net) (3) Other daughters - 340 gms. (285 gms. Net) (4) Widow Sister - 224 gms. (178 gms. Net) (5) Wife - 1,384 gms. (1,153 gms. Net) Learned Collector of Customs and Central Excise, Jaipur in his adjudication order has found the explanation of the appellant as tenable. He has accordingly ordered release of the gold ornaments to the re....
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....his statutory presumption that the appellant alone was issued the show cause notice in terms of Section 79 ibid. Therefore, in terms of the adjudication order of the Collector the gold ornaments belonging to the mother of the appellant, since expired should be released to him. In support of this proposition the learned advocate for the appellant has relied on a number of authorities which are as follows :- (1) 1962 AIR Tripura 50 (2) 1963 AIR Bombay 83 (3) 1986 (25) E.L.T. 57 (4) 1983 (12) E.L.T. 687 On a query from the Bench that Shri Prem Chand, the other brother of the appellant has also laid his claim to his share of the gold ornaments belonging to his mother and has made an application accordingly, learned advocate has s....
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....s should be released to him as he is the presumed owner of those ornaments. 6. In fact proviso to Section 71(1) of the Gold Control Act lends support to my view which states that if certain gold has become liable to confiscation by an act or omission of a person to whom the gold does not belong, the gold should not be confiscated unless such an act or omission has been committed by that person with the knowledge or connivance of the person to whom the gold belongs. In other words, for example if gold is seized from a pawnbroker and he fails to declare or make an entry in records required to be maintained by him the gold becomes liable to confiscation, such gold cannot be confiscated and impliedly such gold will have to be released to its....
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....nd of delay, but, I think, having regard to the extreme intricacy of the law and the possibility of misunderstanding, that in the interests of justice the application ought to be allowed. Accordingly, Nemkumar and Shantabai will be deemed to have been added as petitioners. I was explicitly told that there is no conflict of interest between them and the original petitioners and order may be made in favour of any or all of them." [Emphasis supplied by me]. It is to be observed that the Hon'ble High Court also felt a dilemma whether the gold is to be released to the heirs or Ratanbai in terms of Section 79 or to the owners of the gold in terms of proviso to Section 71(1). The matter was resolved there and the gold was ordered to be relea....
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....e adjudicating authority as to the title or the ownership of the goods would not be conclusive or binding on the real owner. The proper authority to determine, the title to the property is the Civil Court. But then, if any person lays claim to the seized goods, the adjudicating authority gets jurisdiction to decide whether the claim is real or fanciful. This is because the event of the adjudicating authority holding that the goods seized are not liable to confiscation, the same shall have to be returned to its real owner or to the person from whom it was seized. The position, however, gets altered if the finding of the adjudicating authority is against the claimant. Such a claimant cannot question the legality of the order of confiscation o....