2025 (9) TMI 1066

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....-SM. 2. Briefly stated, the facts necessary for the disposal of these appeals are as follows : A gold bar weighing 1 kilogram and a piece of gold bar weighing 210.280 grams were seized on 25-6-2015 from one Abdul Gafoor, whose premises were searched on the said date. On the suspicion that the said quantity of gold was illegally smuggled into the country from abroad, the Customs Authorities initiated an investigation and recorded statements under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962, from the said Abdul Gafoor and also from the Director of Keshavlal Khemchand & Sons Pvt. Ltd., who had apparently entrusted the said quantity of gold to Abdul Gafoor for making ornaments. In the statements recorded from the said persons under Section....

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.... particular, point out that during the relevant time, the importation of gold into the country was not prohibited but merely restricted in terms of the foreign trade policy then in vogue. It is her case therefore that there was no justification for the Authorities below to have ordered an absolute confiscation of the gold seized from them and they ought to have been granted an option of redeeming the gold on payment of the redemption fine, import duty and interest under the Customs Act. 6. Per contra, it is the submission of the Learned Standing Counsel for the respondent that during the period in question, as per General Exemption No. 183 (Notification No. 50/2017-Cus., dated 30-6-2017) as subsequently amended, a concessional rate of du....

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....icer under Section 125 of the Customs Act to permit redemption of the imported gold subject to the importer paying redemption fine together with the customs duty and interest thereon, as warranted under the Customs Act. 8. Although the aforesaid points were agitated before the First Appellate Authority and thereafter before the Tribunal, as is apparent from a perusal of the appeal memorandum filed before the said Authority, neither the First Appellate Authority nor the Tribunal considered the said prayer of the appellants. On the facts and circumstances of the case, we feel that the Adjudicating Authority ought to have extended the appellants an opportunity of redeeming the imported gold, more so when there was no proposal in the show ca....