2025 (12) TMI 391

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....m Day'. 3. The present petitions have been filed by the Petitioners under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, inter alia, assailing the detention of their personal effects consisting of one gold chain and one gold kada weighing a total of 200 grams (hereinafter, 'the gold item'), which were detained by the Customs Department vide detention receipt bearing no. 001266 dated 12th February, 2023. 4. A brief background of the Petitioners' case is that, Petitioners are two friends who had travelled from Delhi to Dubai for business purposes and were returning to India. Upon their arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, the gold items, which are stated to be old jewellery being worn by them, were seized by....

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....oviso to Sub-section (2) of Section 110 of the Act, 1962. The Delhi High Court is right in saying that any effort to say that the release under Section 110A of the Act, 1962 would extinguish the operation of the consequence of not issuing show-cause notice within the statutory period spelt out in Section 110(2) would be contrary to the plain meaning and intendment of the statute. 18. The Delhi High Court has done well to explain that this is so because Section 110A, is by way of an interim order, enabling release of goods like fast moving or perishable etc. The existence of such power does not, in any way, impede or limit the operation of the mandatory provision of Section 110(2). 19. In the case in hand, indisputably the ....

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....upto one year, the consequence that ought to follow is release of the seized car. [...] 24. The appeals before us are all anterior in time to the coming into force of the second proviso to Section 110(2) of the Act, 1962. Although, it is not necessary for us to say anything further, yet we may clarify that the time period to issue notice under Clause (a) of Section 124 is prescribed only in sub-section (2) of Section 110 of the Act, 1962. This time period has nothing to do ultimately with the issuance of show-cause notice under Section 124 of the Act, 1962. The two provisions are distinct and they operate in a different field." 9. The above decision is clear to the effect that if no SCN is issued within the time prescri....