TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2001 (4) TMI 571
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.... he had confiscated the goods of foreign origin valued at Rs. 1,05,650/- consisting of one Colour T.V. set, Triniton Model No. KV-2197 M.3; One C.D. Deck Stereo Cassette Receiver of AIWA Company; One Air-Conditioner Machine of Fujustu General Ltd.; One Wrist Watch of Raddo Co.; One Micro Cassettes Tape Recorder of Sony Model; One gold chain of 72.450 gms having a pendant of 20 gms fine gold having mark SUISSE-20 gms. fine gold 999.9 valued at Rs. 33.650/-. He has also imposed penalty of Rs. one lakh. 2. The appellant was a Senior Inspector of Police in the Maharashtra State Police. He was working at Ulhasnagar. On 24-1-1997, the Anti Corruption Bureau, Thane searched the appellant's premises and seized the above goods along with cer....
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....f varying purity. When we find the same, it is found to be correct. This is what reflected in page 23, para 10 of the Adjudication order. He, therefore, argues that the gold chain cannot be seized. He also stated that even in respect of other goods viz. Music system, Air-Conditioner and T.V cannot be seized because it was not seized by the Customs but was seized by Police. He stated that for the applicability of Sec. 123 of the Customs Act, there must be deprivation of the proprietary from the person. Here the property has been taken over by the Police, therefore, invocation of Sec. 123 is not warranted in this case. He further stressed the point that as far as the applicability of Sec. 123 of the Customs Act is concerned, he stated that th....
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....of the view that invocation of Sec. 123 of the Customs Act in this case is wrong. Even if we hold for arguments sake that Sec. 123 of the Customs Act is invokable, there are certain decisions which go in favour of the appellant. One such decision is Jatin Mehta v. CC, Mumbai - 2000 (120) E.L.T.108 (Tri.) where the Single Member of the Tribunal held in paragraph 7 as follows : "I agree that the nature of the transaction makes the origin of the goods dubious. There is considerable force in the point of the Commissioner (Appeals) that the fact of the goods being purchased from and being sold to anonymous persons and also sold without any bill raises a large question about the legal nature of the goods. At the same time, however, that alone ....
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....ve been procured by some other persons. Case is being made regarding non-response of those persons when summons are received. For such type of cases, the Single Member of the Tribunal in the case of CC (P), Calcutta v. Surya Rao - 2000 (115) E.L.T.521 (Tri.) has observed that "I feel that the Department should have made another effort to locate Shri Munna as the address of Shri Munna was disclosed by the appellant and was with the Department. No further effort was made by the Department to locate Shri Munna and to arrive at the truth." The above observation clearly shows that an effort should have been made by the Department to locate those persons in whose favour the baggage receipt has been given. The Department has not made that ef....