The Delhi High Court has quashed the detention of the gold bangles by the customs department on the grounds that no show cause notice (SCN) was issued due to pre-printed waiver that was obtained from the Petitioner.
The bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Rajneesh Kumar Gupta has observed that since no show cause notice has been issued to the Petitioner due to a pre-printed waiver, the detention is set aside. The detained articles would be liable to be released to the Petitioner. The detained articles shall be released to the Petitioner, subject to payment of Custom Duty without any penalty or fine. The warehouse charges were also waived off.
The petitioner, Mohd Abid under Article 226 of the Constitution of India inter alia seeking a direction to the Customs Department to release the goods being two gold bangles weighing about 58 grams, belonging to the Petitioner, detained vide Detention Receipt.
The Petitioner was travelling to India from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia after staying there for six months. The Petitioner is also employed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Customs Department submitted that the Order has already been passed in this matter. A perusal of the same shows that no show cause notice was issued in the matter and no personal hearing has also been granted.
The Order also shows that absolute confiscation of the detained articles was directed by the Custom Department and a penalty of Rs. 55,000/- has also been imposed on the Petitioner.
The court after considering the weight of the gold and the fact that no SCN was issued after the seizure of the Petitioner’s detained articles, the Order-in-Original in itself, is not sustainable.
The court held that it clearly appears that this was not a case of absolute confiscation of items.
The court held that the Customs Department cannot rely on pre-printed waiver of show cause notice as the same would be contrary to the requirement of Section 124 of the Act. In light of the above discussions, it is clear that the continued detention or seizure of goods by the Customs Department would be untenable in law, where the show cause notice or the personal hearing have been waived via a pre-printed waiver.
The court directed that the detained articles shall be released to the Petitioner, subject to payment of Custom Duty without any penalty or fine. The warehouse charges are waived off. Let the Petitioner appear before the Custom officials on 10th June, 2025 for collecting the detained articles. The Petitioner may collect the detained articles personally or through an Authorised Representative, in which case, the articles shall be released after receiving a proper email from the Petitioner or some form of communication that the Petitioner has no objection to the same being released to the concerned Authorised Representative.
Case Details
Case Title: Mohd Abid Versus Commissioner Of Customs
Case No.: W.P.(C) 7297/2025
Date: 29th May, 2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Ashish Panday
Counsel For Respondent: Anushree Narain
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