The Delhi High Court while upholding the show cause notice held that the officials of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI officials) are ‘Proper Officers’ for initiating customs proceedings.
The bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Rajneesh Kumar Gupta has observed that DRI officials have now been recognised as ‘proper officers’ for initiating/conducting proceedings under Section 28 of the Customs Act, 1962, this petition would no longer survive. The show cause proceedings shall proceed in accordance with law.
The petitioner has challenged the Show Cause Notices issued by DRI officials.
The notice was assailed by questioning the jurisdiction of DRI Officials as ‘proper officers’ to conduct proceedings under Section 28 of the Customs Act, 1962. Reliance was placed on the Supreme Court decision in Canon India Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Customs, which had held that DRI Officials were not ‘proper officers’ for the purpose of initiating/conducting proceedings under Section 28 of the Customs Act, 1962.
The court noted that the Canon-I decision has been reviewed by the Supreme Court in ‘Commissioner of Customs v. M/s Canon India Private Limited’ in which it was held that the officers of Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Commissionerates of Customs (Preventive), Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence and Commissionerates of Central Excise and other similarly situated officers are proper officers for the purposes of Section 28 and are competent to issue show cause notice.
Case Details
Case Title: Shail Singhal Versus Additional Director Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence & Anr
Case No.: W.P.(C) 13402/2021 & CM APPL. 42249/2021
Date: 08th April, 2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Anushree Narain
Counsel For Respondent: Naveen Malhotra
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