TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1967 (5) TMI 68
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....timately was converted into the State of Saurashtra. The State of Saurashtra thereafter merged with the former State of Bombay and on bifurcation of the Bombay State became part of the State of Gujarat. In the meantime the appeal was transferred to the Revenue Tribunal which was constituted by the State of Saurashtra and which was the competent forum to hear such appeals. On February 6, 1952, the Revenue Tribunal set aside the said order of confiscation of the Customs authority and directed the return of the said vehicles to the respondent. On March I'), 1952, the respondent applied for the return of 'the said vehicles but was informed that they had been disposed of under an order of a Magistrate passed under S. 523 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and that the sale proceeds viz., Rs. 2213/8/were handed over to a creditor of the respondent under an attachment order passed in his favour. On February 5, 1954, the respondent filed the present suit for the return of the said vehicles or in the alternative for their value viz., Rs. 31786/8/on the ground that pursuant to the said order of the Tribunal, which in the absence of any proceedings against it had become final, the Stat....
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....as aforesaid, was made on the footing that the said vehicles were unclaimed property. The only notice which was issued by the Magistrate was a public notice which was ordered to be pasted at a public place. Clearly, the respondent was right when he said that he was not aware of the said proceedings or the order passed by the Magistrate therein. It appears from the Rojkam of the Magistrate's court that on February 5, 1952, the said vehicles were auctioned in the condition in which they were and only Rs. 2,000 and odd were realised from that auction. The trial court found that the customs officer was competent to seize the said vehicles on a suspicion that a custom offence tinder the said Act had been committed. It held, however, that after the Tribunal had set aside his order and directed the return of the said property to the respondent it was the duty of the State Government to return the said property and on failure to do so the respondent had a cause of action and the suit was maintainable. On these findings, the trial court passed a decree against the State Government for Rs. 26797/8/-. The State Government thereupon filed an appeal in the High Court of Bombay at Rajkot ta....
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....ither of the State Government or of any of its servants. It is against this judgment and decree of the High Court that this appeal by special leave is directed. It is clear that both the trial court and the High Court concurrently found that the said vehicles were-seized by the customs -authority, that between 1947 and October, 1951 when they were disposed off they were lying uncared for in an open space, that they were disposed of at the instance of the Police as unclaimed property, that when they were sold most of the valuable parts were missing and lastly that they were sold while the appeal against the order of seizure and confiscation was still pending. Mr. Dhebar's contention was that since they were seized by a ,competent officer the seizure was lawful and that the utmost that ,could be alleged in the circumstances was that one or the other servants of the State Government was guilty of negligence. Fe ,contended that the State Government was not liable for any tortious act of any of its servants. Before we proceed to consider this contention it is necessary to examine some of the provisions of the said Act which both the parties conceded was the relevant law applicable....
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....s not final being subject to an appeal and was liable to be set aside either in appeal or in revision. It was also aware that if the said order was set aside, the property would have to be returned to the owner thereof in the same state in which it was seized except as to normal depreciation. In spite of this clear position, while the appeal was still pending before the Revenue Tribunal and without waiting for its disposal, it allowed its police authorities to have it disposed of as unclaimed property. The State Government was fully aware, firstly, by reason of the pendency of the appeal and secondly because the application under s. 523 expressly mentioned -the person from whom the said vehicles were seized, that the vehicles were and could not be said to be unclaimed property. In the circumstances, the State Government was during the pendency of the appeal under a statutory duty to take reasonable care of the said vehicles which on the said appeal being decided against it were liable to be returned to their owner. The contention that the order of disposal was a judicial order or that the respondent could have filed a revision application against that order and have it set aside wo....
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....eize and confiscate was dependent upon a customs offence having been committed or a suspicion that such offence had been committed. The order of the Customs Officer was not final as it was subject to an appeal and if the appellate authority found that there was no good ground for the exercise of that power, 'the property could no longer be retained and had under the Act to be returned to the owner. That being the position and the property being liable to be returned there was not only a statutory obligation to return but until the order of confiscation became final an implied obligation to preserve the property intact and for that purpose to take such care of it as a reasonable person in like circumstances is expected to take. Just as a finder of property has to return it when its owner is found and demands it, so the State Government was bound to return the said vehicles once it was found that the seizure and confiscation were not sustainable. There being thus a legal obligation to preserve the property intact and also the obligation to take reasonable care of it so as to enable the Government to return it in the same condition in which it was seized, the position of the State....