2025 (4) TMI 195

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....a inter alia seeking setting aside of the impugned Order in Original dated 07th November, 2024 wherein the goods being one gold kada and two gold chains were confiscated and redemption was allowed subject to payment of Rs. 70,000/-. 3. The brief background of the present petition is that the Petitioner is an Indian Passport holder with a residency permit in United Arab Emirates (hereinafter 'UAE'). He and his family live in UAE as he is employed there. The Petitioner travelled to India along with his family on 09th April, 2024 to attend a marriage in Kerala. They were crossing the Green Channel when they were stopped by an Official of the Customs Department, and their personal gold ornaments were detained. Details of the same are as under:....

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....fects' vis-à-vis jewellery under the Baggage Rules, in effect from time to time. The relevant paragraphs of the said judgement are as under: "13. When the 2016 Rules ultimately came to be promulgated, Rule 2(vi) specifically introduced a definition with respect to "personal effects". As noticed in the preceding parts of this judgment, Rule 2(vi) while defining "personal effects" explicitly excludes items of jewellery. The word 'jewellery' as it now appears in that definition clause must necessarily be read in conjunction with the previous versions of the Baggage Rules which operated from time to time as well as the clarificatory Circular referred to above. However, both Rules 3(a) as well as 4(b) employ the phrase "used personal ef....

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.... 1998 Rules had employed the phrase "used personal effects, excluding jewellery". The clarification is thus liable to be appreciated in the aforesaid light and the statutory position as enunciated by the respondents themselves requiring the customs officers to bear a distinction between "personal jewellery" and the word "jewellery" when used on its own and as it appears in the Appendices. This position, in our considered opinion, would continue to endure and remain unimpacted by the provisions contained in the 2016 Rules." 9. A perusal of the above decision would lead to the conclusion that jewellery that is bona fide in personal use by the tourist would not be excluded from the ambit of personal effects as defined under the Rule 2(vi) of....

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....ne year, or return to India, shall be allowed clearance free of duty in his bona fide baggage of jewellery upto a weight, of twenty grams with a value cap of fifty thousands rupees if brought by a gentleman passenger, or forty grams with a value cap of one lakh rupees if brought by a lady passenger. * * * * ANNEXURE-I (See Rules 3, 4 and 6) 1. Fire arms. 2. Cartridges of fire arms exceeding 50. 3. Cigarettes exceeding 100 sticks or cigars exceeding 25 or tobacco exceeding 125 gms. 4. Alcoholic liquor or wines in excess of two litres. 5. Gold or silver in any form other than ornaments. 6. Flat Panel (Liquid Crystal Display/Light-Emitting Diode/Plasma) television." 10. A perusal of the above Rules would show that th....