1983 (3) TMI 55

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.... valued at Rs. 62,240, and cash in currency worth Rs. 14,670. According to the respondents, the seized goods are liable for confiscation under the Act. Section 124 of the Act reads as follows - "124. No order confiscating any goods or imposing any penalty on any person shall be made under this Chapter unless the owner of the goods or such person - (a) is given a notice in writing informing him of the grounds on which it is proposed to confiscate the goods or to impose a penalty; (b) is given an opportunity of making a representation in writing within such reasonable time as may be specified in the notice against the grounds of confiscation or imposition of penalty mentioned therein; and (c) is given a reasonable opportunity of b....

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....itioner is available amongst the records. Time was granted to the learned Counsel for the respondents to do so. When the matter is taken up today, Mr. T.R.K. Kumar Singh, learned Counsel appearing for the respondents, admits that no such postal receipt is available amongst the records. However, learned Counsel made an attempt to demonstrate that such a show clause notice was, or must have been, in fact, sent. From the files, available with him, he drew my attention to a copy of a letter dated 17-3-1979 stated to have been addressed to the concerned Postal authority enquiring about the fate of the alleged show cause notice issued by the authority concerned. 3. It must be straightway pointed out that the present writ petition was admitted ....

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....ce of the rule nisi in the writ petition and service of the same on the respondents. Confiscation is a penal process and it is well settled that provisions relating to penal process must be construed strictly and that too, in favour of the subject. In an attempt to get over the inconvenient position, learned Counsel for the respondents states that the procedure contemplated under Section 153(b) of the Act has been resorted to in the instant case. Averments to that effect have been made in paragraph 9 of the counter affidavit wherein it is stated that a copy of the show cause notice was also displayed in the office notice-board. It is not stated as to when exactly the display in the office notice-board was done. This is, apart from the quest....