AI OCR 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (9) TMI 1418
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....) which were detained upon the Petitioner's arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on 14th May, 2024. The Petitioner further prays for setting aside the personal hearing letter dated 3rd April, 2025 issued by the Respondent-Customs Department. 3. The case of the Petitioner is that no Show Cause Notice (hereinafter 'SCN') has been issued to the Petitioner, and therefore the seized goods are liable to be returned in terms of Section 124 of the Customs Act, 1962. 4. On the other hand, the case of the Customs Department is that on the date of detention, the SCN was orally waived by the Petitioner. However, following the directions given by this Court in W.P.(C) 198/2025 titled Qamar Jahan v. Union of India, Represen....
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....ct thereof is given under clause (a) of section 124 within six months of the seizure of the goods, the goods shall be returned to the person from whose possession they were seized. It is pertinent to mention that the personal hearing in absence of the show cause notice holds no sanctity in the eyes of law and hence serves no purpose. Therefore, in the light of the facts and circumstances mentioned above, it is most humbly apprised that Mr. Pawan Kumar not appeared in the personal hearing offered by your office. Accordingly, it is hereby requested that his goods must be released in compliance of Section 124 read with Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962. This is for your kind information, record and necessary actio....
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...., let the Department look into the applicable provisions of law and as part of the next status report, place before the Court, the mechanism which the Department wishes to adopt for issuing oral SCN and providing the opportunity of personal hearing in compliance with the law." 7. The above directions in Qamar Jahan (Supra) have thereafter been considered from time to time. This Court has held that under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962, if the SCN is not given within the time prescribed, the detention would be untenable. In fact, in the counter affidavit, the statement of the Petitioner under Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 has been placed on record, wherein such waiver has been recorded by the Customs Department. The waiver of ....
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.... [...] 19. This Court is of the opinion that the printed waiver of SCN and the printed statement made in the request for release of goods cannot be considered or deemed to be an oral SCN, in compliance with Section 124. The SCN in the present case is accordingly deemed to have not been issued and thus the detention itself would be contrary to law. The order passed in original without issuance of SCN and without hearing the Petitioner, is not sustainable in law. The Order-in-Original dated 29th November, 2024 is accordingly set-aside." 8. Ld. Counsel for the Petitioner relies upon Master Circular dated 10th March 2017 issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs, wherein it is clearly stated as under: "2.1 S....
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....cular for offences of serious nature or where the duty involved in high. Conclusion of proceedings may be approved by an officer equal in rank to the officer who is competent to adjudicate such cases. The cases can be closed by the competent authority in DGCEI/Executive Commissionerate/Audit Commissionerate, as the case may be. If multiple issues involving different monetary values arise from the same proceedings, then the sum total involved in all the issues arising from the same proceedings should be considered for conclusion of proceedings." 9. The repeated position which has been reiterated in several judgments is that waiver of SCN is an impermissible position and in this case, the SCN has not been issued for more than a year and pe....