2025 (8) TMI 1488

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....r Justice Abdul Quddhose For the Petitioner(s) : Mr.B.Kumar, Senior Counsel for K. Gopal For the Respondent(s) : M/S. M. Santhanaraman Senior Standing Counsel for R1, R2 COMMON ORDER These writ petitions have been filed challenging the impugned order-in-original dated 17.04.2025 passed by the first respondent against the respective petitioners. Under the impugned order-in-original, the first respondent has imposed penalty on the respective petitioners as per the provisions of Section 112(a)&(b) of the Customs Act, 1962 2. The respective petitioners have challenged the impugned order-in-original on the ground of violation of the principles of natural justice and on the ground that the first respondent has pre-determined the is....

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....bmit that the respective petitioners were collectively involved in the smuggling of huge quantity of gold. According to him, only by following the due procedure and by granting the respective petitioners a fair hearing, the impugned order-in-original came to be passed by the first respondent. He would further submit that since the impugned order-in-original is a reasoned order, the respective petitioners ought to have filed the statutory appeal remedy available under the Customs Act and without exercising the same, they have chosen to file these writ petitions, which are not maintainable. DISCUSSION:- 6. Whenever an order is passed in violation of the principles of natural justice or the authority has pre-determined the issue, a writ ....

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....it filed in support of the writ petitions are reproduced hereunder:- S.No Paragraph in Impugned Order Paragraph in Show Cause Notice 1 Para 1 Para 1.1 2 Para 2 Para 1.2 3 Para 3 Para 1.3 4 Para 4 Para 1.4 5 Para 5 Para 1.5 6 Para 6 Para 1.6 7 Para 7 Para 1.7 8 Para 8 Para 1.8 9 Para 9 Para 1.9 10 Para 10 Para 3.1 11 Para 11 Para 4 & 5 12 Para 12 Para 6 13 Para 13 Para 7 14 Para 13.2 Para 8 15 Para 13.3 Para 9 16 Para 14 Para 10 17 Para 15 Para 11 18 Para 16 Para 12 19 Para 17 Para 13 20 Para 18 Para 14 21 Para 19 Para 15 22 Para 20.1 Par....

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....aling with an order passed by the High Court, the same yardstick can also be applied for the instant case and in that decision, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has made it clear that a prolific use of the 'cut-copy-paste' function should not become a substitute for substantive reasoning, which, in the ultimate analysis, is the defining feature of the judicial process as the reasons constitute the soul of a judicial decision. 9. In the case on hand, as seen from the impugned order-in-original, the first respondent has cut, copied and pasted the contents of the show cause notice in the impugned order-in-original and the first respondent has not given independent reasoning for arriving at the conclusion. Though the learned senior stan....