TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 1086
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.... Act. 3. The petitioner claims that since Currencies have been seized, Section 110 (2) of the Customs Act, 1962 has to be strictly complied with by the respondent. According to the petitioner, since show cause notice has not been issued by the respondent within a period of six months as stipulated under Section 110(2) of the Customs Act, 1962, or the Principal Commissioner of Customs, Customs House, Commissioner of Customs has not extended the period for issuance of show cause notice by another period of six months as per the provisions of Section 110 (2) of the Customs Act, 1962, the seized Currencies will have to be returned to the petitioner. 4. A counter affidavit has been filed by the respondent before this Court stating that the seizure has been effected by the Customs Department by exercising powers under Section 110 (3) of the Customs Act, 1962. 5. According to them, since the Currencies were seized from the premises of one Mittalal, Section 110(2) of the Customs Act, 1962 does not get attracted as the seizure of Currencies will fall within the definition of 'things' as provided under Section 110 (3) of the Customs Act, 1962. Therefore, according to the respondent,....
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.... Currencies, if the procedure contemplated under Section 110 (2) of the Customs Act, 1962 is not followed, the said seizure is bad in law and directed the Customs Department to return the seized Currencies back to the person from whom the seizure was effected. 10. On the other hand, the learned senior standing counsel appearing for the respondent would submit that eventhough the Currencies were seized, the said Currencies will not fall under Section 110(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 as they are not goods for the purpose of attracting Section 110 (1) of the Customs Act, 1962. He would submit that only in case where there was any illegal transportation of Currencies by passengers from India to abroad or from abroad to India and the said Currencies are seized, Section 110 (1) of the Customs Act, 1962 gets attracted but not in the instant case. He would submit that since during the course of investigation as against the appraiser of the Customs Department who had fraudulently fabricated the documents and also collected bribe, it was noticed that Mittalal had aided the said appraiser in committing an illegal act, where the Currencies were seized and therefore, Section 110 (1) of the Cu....
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....in the Official Gazette, specify the goods or class of goods which shall, as soon as may be after its seizure under sub-section (1), be disposed of by the proper officer in such manner as the Central Government may, from time to time, determine after following the procedure hereinafter specified. (1B) Where any goods, being goods specified under sub-section (1A), have been seized by a proper officer under sub-section (1), he shall prepare an inventory of such goods containing such details relating to their description, quality, quantity, mark, numbers, country of origin and other particulars as the proper officer may consider relevant to the identity of the goods in any proceedings under this Act and shall make an application to a Magistrate for the purpose of- (a) certifying the correctness of the inventory so prepared; or (b) taking, in the presence of the Magistrate, photographs of such goods, and certifying such photographs as true; or (c) allowing to draw representative samples of such goods, in the presence of the Magistrate, and certifying the correctness of any list of samples so drawn. (1C) Where an application is made under sub....
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....on 110 (2) of the Customs Act, 1962, there is no specific time limit for issuance of show cause notice for seizure of documents or 'things'. 17. Under Section 110(2) of the Customs Act, 1962, the goods must be returned to the owner if no show cause notice is issued within the prescribed time limit fixed under Section 110 (2) of the Customs Act, 1962. On the other hand, documents or 'things' seized under Section 110 (3) of the Customs Act, 1962 can be retained for the duration of the proceedings. 18. The Customs Department is empowered to initiate action against the violators only in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Act. The violations must necessarily arise out of exports or imports. In the instant case, it is an admitted fact that the Customs Department has seized the Currencies from Mittalal only under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962. 19. The learned Senior Standing Counsel during the course of his submissions while making an attempt to distinguish the decision relied upon by the learned counsel for the petitioner, referred to supra, has submitted that the Currencies, which were seized in those decisions were seized while the passenger w....