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2025 (12) TMI 142
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....dents. 2. Mr. Pathak states that both these Petitions could be disposed of by a common order, by treating Writ Petition No. 15576 of 2025 as the lead Petition. 3. In both these Petitions, the challenge is to the Order-in-Original dated 03 September 2025, against which the Customs Act has provided a statutory appeal. 4. The Petitioners claim that the remedy of appeal is not efficacious. For this, Mr. Pathak refers to paragraph 4.15 in Writ Petition No. 15576 of 2025, which reads as follows:- "4.15 Though Appellate remedy has been provided under the Customs Act, the impugned proceedings having been conducted without jurisdiction and also in gross violation of principles of natural justice and fair play in quasi-judicial proc....
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....sidered the Petitioner's arguments or taken into account relevant documents provided by the Petitioner in response to the show cause notice. We hesitate to go into further detail on this matter, as doing so might prejudice the Petitioners' right to appeal before the Appellate Authority. 8. However, from the perusal of the impugned order, we are not satisfied that this is a fit case where the practice of exhaustion of an alternate remedy must be bypassed, and this Court should entertain the Petition. 9. The real reason for directly instituting this Petition has emerged only later, when Mr Pathak submitted that the Petitioner will not be able to comply with the pre-deposit requirement mandated by an Appeal. The requirement of pre-deposi....
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....of smuggled gold and laundering of vast sums of money". The impugned order records that he "actively assisted in enabling overseas remittances amounting to Rs.414 crores, which were falsely shown as payments for importing services but were actually used to pay for smuggled gold and other precious stones". The order records that as a hawala operator, the Petitioner "helped route and layer these funds through various fake companies and multiple bank accounts, thereby obscuring their illicit origin". This paragraph notes that Mr. Garg's involvement was crucial in helping the syndicate evade customs duties and regulatory checks, "ultimately supporting one of the largest gold smuggling and trade-based money laundering operations uncovered by cus....
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....the Appellate Authority. We have only referred to the above findings to demonstrate how hollow the claims of the Petitioners are of being unable to afford to make a pre-deposit should they be relegated to resort to the appellate remedy. 15. Of late, there is an increased tendency to institute Petitions directly before this Court by making false and frivolous averments. In most cases, arguments are advanced without the backing of any pleadings to sustain the same, only to take a chance and, if possible, secure some interim orders. The Petitioners are aware of the pressure on this Court's docket, and it is often increasingly difficult to take up all the listed matters. In this manner, the interim reliefs once obtained tend to continue for ....
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.... justice or incapacity to comply with the pre-deposit requirements. This order was challenged by the Petitioner before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, and the Special Leave Petition (C) Diary No. 43614 of 2025 was dismissed. 19. In the case of Oberoi Constructions Ltd. Vs. Union of India And Ors. 2024 SCC OnLine 3508, this Court, examined the issue of exhaustion of alternate remedies in great details. Relying on the reasoning in the said decision and the reasoning in the several precedents referred to therein, we are satisfied that no case is made out to deviate from the practice of exhaustion of alternate remedies in both these Petitions. 20. Recently, in the case of Rikhab Chand Jain Vs. Union of India And Ors. Civil Appeal No. 6719 of 2....