AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1991 (6) TMI 255
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.... the Act. The appeal was dismissed by the Foreign Exchange Regulation Appellate Board. Against that order the petitioner filed the appeal in C.M.A. 409 of 1980 under S. 54 of the Act, before this court. The said appeal was allowed by the Division Bench of this Court on 21-12-1984 (reported in 1986 Cri LJ 647 (Mad)). Against the judgment of this court in C.M.A. 409 of 1980, the respondent filed a petition for Special Leave to appeal in S.L.P. 5802 of 1985 before the Supreme Court. The said Special Leave petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 7-9-1987. In the meantime, the petitioner filed contempt Application No. 264 of 1987 before this court against the respondent for not complying with the directions by this Court in C.M.A. 409 of 1980 by returning the seized amount of Rs. 29,176/- and Rs. 10,000/-, being the penalty paid by him. Subsequently the sum of Rs. 10,000/- deposited by the petitioner as penalty and the seized amount of Rs. 29,176/- together with interest on Rs. 2493/- were refunded to the petitioner on 21-12-87. The said interest of Rs. 2493/- was allowed by the bankers on the seized amount of Rs. 29,176/- from the date of seizure till its confiscation. The Divis....
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....ect of avoiding drafts, cheques, travellers cheques and other instruments getting invalid or stale after the prescribed period. The further case of the respondent is that the respondent could not comply with the directions given in C.M.A. 409 of 1980 immediately, because a Special Leave Petition was filed before the Supreme Court against the judgment in C.M.A. No. 409 of 1980 and that the respondent was waiting for the orders of the Supreme Court on the Special Leave Petition, and as soon as the Special Leave Petition was dismissed, the respondent complied with the directions given by this Court in C.M.A. No. 409 of 1980 by returning to the petitioner on 21-12-1987 a sum of Rs. 41,669/-. 4. The following two points arise for consideration in this writ petition :- (1) Whether the petitioner is entitled to interest at the rate of 6% per annum on the amount of Rs. 29,176/- from 25-4-1970 and on the penalty amount of Rs. 10,000/- collected from the petitioner, from the date of collection till 21-12-1984 i.e., the date of the judgment in C.M.A. 409 of 1980, under section 42(3) of the Act, and interest at the rate of 15% per annum on Rs. 68,258/- from 21-12-1984 till the date....
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....n specific category of currency, namely, drafts, cheques, traveller's cheque and other instruments. Section 42 of the Act does not deal with the other forms of currency like currency notes. Currency notes seized from the petitioner cannot be considered either as a draft, cheque, traveller's cheque or other instruments referred to in Section 42. Section 42(3) of the Act provides for payment of interest and Section 42(3) reads thus :- "Where a direction is made under section 63 or an order has been made under the Customs Act, 1962 to confiscated any draft, cheque (including traveller's cheque) or other instrument the proceeds of which have been realised under sub-section (1), such proceeds shall vest in the Central Government and in all other cases such proceeds shall be paid to such person as may appear to the officer or the Court, who or which made the direction under sub-section (1), to be entitled thereto in such currency and in such manner as he or it deems just together with interest at the rate of six per cent per annum from the date on which such draft, cheque (including traveller's cheque) or other instrument came into his or its custody till the dat....
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....will cover only draft, cheque (including traveller's cheque) or other instruments and it will not cover currency notes. As rightly contended by the learned counsel for the respondent Section 42 of the Act has been envisaged with the object of avoiding all the drafts, cheques and traveller's cheques or other instruments getting invalid or stale after the prescribed period. Further Section 42(2) of the Act speaks about the deposit of amounts realised by way of encashment of the drafts, cheques, traveller's cheques and other instruments in a separate account to be maintained in the prescribed manner which would necessarily fetch interest. There is no provision in the Act for depositing the seized currency notes in a separate account and therefore the claim for interest on the seized currency notes from the petitioner cannot be countenanced. As already pointed out, Section 42 refers only to drafts, cheques, and other instruments and it does not refer to currency notes at all. In these circumstances, it has to be concluded that Section 42(3) does not provide for payment of interest on currency notes confiscated and the penalty collected from the petitioner when the order of ....
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....from the petitioner pursuant to the judgment in C.M.A. 409 of 1980. 7. Point No. 2 :- The next question we have to examine is, whether the respondent is justified in withholding the payment of the amount ordered to be refunded to the petitioner by the judgment of this Court in C.M.A. 409 of 1980 dated 21-12-1984 till 21-12-1987 ? Whether it is a fit case where the respondent should be directed to pay interest on the amount directed to be refunded by the judgment in C.M.A. 409 of 1980 from the date of judgment till the date of actual payment of the amount on 21-12-1987 ? This Court by the judgment in C.M.A. 409 of 1980 dated 21-12-1984 directed the respondent to refund the confiscated amount and the penalty collected from the petitioner. The sum of Rs. 29,176/- seized from the petitioner was ordered to be confiscated by the departmental authorities on 31-12-1976. The petitioner also paid a sum of Rs. 10,000/- as penalty on various dates. Admittedly the respondent refunded a sum of Rs. 41,669/- made up of the confiscated amount of Rs. 29,176/-, Rs. 10,000/- collected from the petitioner as penalty and Rs. 2493/- the interest on Rs. 29,176/- from the date of seizure till the date o....