TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2009 (4) TMI 658
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....eing Writ Petition No. 2009 of 2008 which was disposed of on 18th September, 2008. The prayer clauses in the said Writ Petition read as under: Petitioners therefore pray : (a) that this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a Writ of Certiorari or a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari, calling for the records before respondent nos. 2 to 5 and after probing into the legality, propriety and validity of the seizure of the said aircraft and provisional release thereof against bank guarantee, to quash and set aside the said impugned seizure and declare the same illegal and also quash the illegal act of respondent nos. 2 to 5 of obtaining of the bank guarantee by the respondents from the petitioners. (b) that this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a Writ of Mandamus, or a writ, order or direction in the nature of Mandamus directing respondent nos. 2 to 5 to release the bank guarantee No. 01561081FG000134, dated 31-7-2008 to the petitioners and to adjudicate upon the issue after issuing the show cause notice within the time bound period as deemed fit by this Hon'ble Court. (c) that pending the hearing and final disposal of the above Petition, this Hon'ble C....
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....utiny of the passenger manifest (RUD)-10) submitted by M/s. IACO it was found that the director of M/s. IAC, Shri P.N. Dhoot had extensively used the aircraft. The details of travels made by the director of M/s. IACO Shri P.N. Dhoot and his relatives/family friends are as follows : . No. Director and his relatives of the company has travelled Date From - To 1. R.N. Dhoot 19-7-08 Aurangabad to Mumbai 2. V.N. Dhoot P.N. Dhoot 27-6-08 Ahmedabad to Mumbai 3. P.N. Dhoot R.N. Dhoot V.N. Dhoot 27-6-08 Mumbai to Ahmedabad 4. P.N. Dhoot R.N. Dhoot V.N. Dhoot 26-6-08 Mumbai to Bhopal 5. R.N. Dhoot 12-6-08 Mumbai to Delhi 6. V.N. Dhoot 7-6-08 Mangalore to Mumbai 7. P.N. Dhoot Saurav Dhoot 26-5-08 Aurangabad to Mumbai 8. Saurav Dhoot 26-5-08 Mumbai to Aurangabad 9. V.N. Dhoot 7-5-08 Hud to Aurangabad 10. V.N. Dhoot R.N. Dhoot P.N. Dhoot 7-5-08 Mumbai to Hyderabad 11. V.N. Dhoot 21-2-08 Aurangabad to Mumbai The above chart prima facie shows that the aircraft was not used exclusively for providing non-scheduled passenger air transport services for which it was imported. Thus it is a clear violation of the conditions of the notification No.....
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....ms (Preventive), Delhi. The bond is in the sum of Rs. 26 crores and bank guarantee of Rs. 6.5 crores. This is evident by letter dated 1st August, 2008 by the Assistant Commissioner of Customs (Preventive) addressed to the Additional Commissioner (AIE). The petitioners by their communication of 1st August, 2008 have submitted the bond and a bank guarantee for the like amount to the respondent no. 3. 9. We are here concerned with the import policy for Aircraft and Helicopters. Under the import policy under paragraph 2 any person who has been granted permission by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, for operating scheduled or non-scheduled aircraft services including air transport services for import of aircrafts and helicopters can import the aircraft subject to conditions that the import of aircrafts and helicopters and use is in accordance with that permission. Under the policy, such an import can be done without any import licence from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. In the terms of exemption notification, the rate of duty is nil. Under the exemption, non-scheduled aircraft services have been describ....
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....cipation and in the presence of the parties. Unless the High Court is satisfied that the show cause notice was totally non est in the eye of law for absolute want of jurisdiction of the authority to even investigate into facts, writ petitions, should not be entertained for the mere asking and as a matter of routine and the writ petitioner should invariably be directed to respondent to the show cause notice and take all stands highlighted in the writ petition. Whether the show cause notice was founded on any legal premises is a jurisdictional issue which can even be urged by the recipient of the notice and such issues also can be adjudicated by the authority issuing the very notice initially, before the aggrieved could approach the Court. Further when the Court passes an interim order, it should be careful to see that the statutory functionaries specially and specifically constituted for the purpose are not denuded of powers and authority to initially decide the matter and ensure that ultimate relief which may or may not be finally granted in the writ petitions accorded to the writ petitioner even at the threshold by the interim protection granted." 11. After the order of conf....