TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2011 (11) TMI 662
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....d registration under the relevant provisions of law and is the owner of the truck in question bearing UP 63H - 9925 on which the aforesaid bags of betel nuts were loaded. 2. The said petitioners have filed this writ petition for quashing the seizure of the aforesaid betel nuts which was initially detained on 02.06.2011 by the respondents authorities of the Customs Department and was subsequently seized on the presumption firstly that the consignment was stolen one and secondly that it was of third country origin. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioners stated that petitioner no.1 purchased the aforesaid betel nuts through different traders at Jalpaiguri vide proper trade invoices duly registered under Sale Tax Act and Rules, whereafter pet....
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....arly showed that the statement of the driver was taken forcibly after seizure of the goods, whereas there is nothing else to show that the betel nuts in question were of foreign origin. He also stated that there is no prohibition for importing betel nuts from Nepal and the only prohibition is that it should not have been imported to Nepal from any third country. In this regard, he relied upon a decision of the Division Bench of this court in case of Commissioner, Custom Department, Government of India, Patna vs. Dwarika Prasad Agarwal & Ors., reported in 2009 (2) P.L.J.R. 858. 6. Learned counsel for the petitioners further argued that in exercise of powers conferred by section 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 r....
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....emently opposed the contentions of learned counsel for the petitioners and stated that after his release the driver of the truck never approached the authority or even this court making any statement denying the statement given by him. He also averred that the petitioners should have approached the authorities concerned with respect to the aforesaid matter, but they never approached the authorities nor appeared in the proceeding nor raised any point in support of their claim and directly approached this court by way of filing this writ petition which was not at all proper and justified. 9. Learned counsel for the respondents also claimed that the statement of the driver was taken, where after seizure of the goods was made by the authoritie....
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....he goods belonged to petitioner no.1 (a registered trader) and had been booked on the truck of petitioner no.2 (a registered transporter) from Guwahati for being delivered to one M/s Maa Padmawati Traders Nagpur were available with the authorities, but without considering the same they relied upon frivolous and baseless statement which cannot have any legal sanctity specially when the driver of the truck, who is alleged to have made the statements, was in custody of the authorities concerned but on the date of seizure or even thereafter he did not make any confession and only when he was detained continuously he in his 3rd or 4th statement fulfilled the wishes of the authorities, which cannot be held to be a clinching material in absence of....
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....ther a reasonable, prudent person on the basis of materials relied upon would hold the same belief. The so-called belief of the officials was at the most mere suspicion, far away from belief which could be said to be reasonable and hence the condition precedent for the exercise of power under section 110 of the Act was absent and the seizure on the basis of such belief cannot be said to be in accordance with law. 14. In this connection reference may also be made to a decision of a Bench of Bombay High Court in case of M.G. Abrol vs. Amichand Vallamji, reported in A.I.R. 1961 Bombay 227 in which it has been held as follows:- "The Customs Officers should seize the goods covered by S. 178A in a reasonable belief that they are smuggled goods ....
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....nce or non-existence of a thing." 15. From the aforesaid well settled principles of law, it is quite apparent that so far the point of time at which reasonable belief should exist is concerned, whenever the goods are seized, the officer seizing the goods must at the time of seizure have a reasonable belief that the goods he was seizing were smuggled goods and any subsequent acquisition of knowledge of such belief would be of no avail. So far the allegation that betel nuts in question were of foreign origin is concerned, a Division Bench of this court in case of Commissioner, Custom Department, Government of India, Patna (supra) had specifically held that it was not in dispute that betel nut was non-notified item and, as such, the onus to p....