1985 (3) TMI 293

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....bram, for the Appellants. Shri J.M.K. Sekhar, SDR, for the Respondent. ORDER By order No. 4/84, dated 31-3-1984 the Collector of Central Excise and Customs, Guntur, had ordered confiscation of gold ornaments weighing 1151.000 gms. valued at Rs. 1,21,550/-, said to have been received by way of pledge by the appellants from various persons under Section 71 of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968 fo....

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....ultant for the appellants pointed out that confiscation of the ornaments belonging to third parties for an offence committed by the appellants is bad in law, as an act of commission or omission on the part of the appellants was not with the knowledge of the individual owners of the pledged ornaments. In respect of the primary gold he pleaded for leniency considering that it represented the resulta....

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....o a penalty under Section 74 of the Act. 5. We also take note that the primary gold weighing only 30.700 gms. is the resultant of the melting down of the mangalsutra of the wife of one of the partners. However, possession of primary gold is a violation of Section 8(1) of the Act. We think that the interests of justice will be met if we, (a) order the release of the confiscated gold orna....