The Delhi High Court has quashed the detention of a passenger’s gold jewellery at IGI Airport, ruling that the customs department failed to issue a proper Show Cause Notice (SCN) or provide a personal hearing before seizing the items.
The Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Rajneesh Kumar Gupta observed that the detention was “no longer tenable.” Referring to its earlier judgment in Amit Kumar v. The Commissioner of Customs, the Court noted that “waivers obtained on printed standard forms” are not valid and violate the principle of natural justice.
The petitioner had sought the release of one gold kada (100 grams) and a gold chain (75 grams), which were seized by Customs officials upon his arrival at Indira Gandhi International Airport on March 19, 2024. The seizure was formalized through a detention receipt dated March 19, 2024, later re-acknowledged on August 8, 2024.
The Customs Department argued that a personal hearing notice had been sent to the petitioner in line with the High Court’s March 27, 2025 ruling in Qamar Jahan v. Union of India & Ors., which mandated that even if a passenger waives the SCN, they must be given an opportunity for a personal hearing.
“The person affected cannot be condemned unheard,” the Court remarked, emphasizing that a valid SCN must be a consciously signed declaration and not a blanket printed form. The Court was particularly critical of Customs’ use of such documents, stating it “shocks the conscience” when passengers are left to “run from pillar to post” to recover their belongings.
The Court further observed that no Order-in-Original had been passed and that the personal hearing notice had been issued more than a year after the original seizure, rendering the entire process procedurally flawed.
The High Court ordered the Customs Department to release the petitioner’s detained goods within four weeks, subject to payment of applicable warehousing charges calculated from the date of detention.
Case Details
Case Title: Nitish Kharbanda Versus Customs Commissioner
Case No.: W.P.(C) 8217/2025
Date: 23rd July, 2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Richa Kumari
Counsel For Respondent: Aditya Singla
