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TMI Blog1985 (5) TMI 129X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e officers seized 50 pieces of round gold welded rods weighing 1214.500 grams in two packets covered with two Gujrati Newspapers. A Panchnama was prepared at the spot and handed over to the petitioner, vide Annexure 1. The statement made by the petitioner at the time of seizure is Annexure 2. His plea was that one of his friends in Bombay named Sangvi had sent gold ornaments to him and that he would make payment for the gold later on, on receipt of money from his grandfather. The Deputy Collector, Central Excise, Bhubaneswar, opposite party No. 1, asked the petitioner to show cause why appropriate action should not be taken against him for contravention of the provisions contained in Section 8(1) of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968 (hereafter r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... oner mainly on the ground that there was no basis for them to hold that the seized bangles were never used as ornaments in the State of Orissa. It is also contended that the seized gold has been wrongly held to be primary gold within the meaning of the Act. The petitioner has accordingly prayed that the orders as per Annexures 5, 8 and 10 should be quashed. 2. In their Counter the opposite parties have denied all the allegations of the petitioner. It is stated that during the enquiry the person described as Sangvi by the petitioner and whose address had been furnished by him could not be traced, thus leading to the conclusion that Sangvi was a fictitious person. The petitioner could not adduce any evidence to show valid acquisition of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hing (having regard to its purity, size, weight, description or workmanship) is such as is commonly used as ornament in any State or Union Territory." Reference may next be made to a decision reported in AIR 1974 Cal. 158 : Sumanial Parekh and others v. Collector of Central Excise and Customs, W. Bengal and others wherein it was held : On a construction of the scheme of the Act and having particular reference to the definition of primary gold and Ornament which I have set out above, it seems to be that an essential pre-condition for assumption of jurisdiction under Section 8(1) of the Act is that the article in question must be primary gold. It is undoubtedly for the Gold Control Authorities to decide that collateral question of fa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... : The contents were found to be fifty pieces of crude Churis of very high purity and it appears that the said churis were found to be primary gold in appearance of churis in crude form. In Annexure 5, opposite party No. 1 has held : The gold in question namely 50 pieces of gold churis were found to be of pure gold. It is noticed that although there are some heavy designs on the seized churis of gold in question the same could be easily bent being made of pure gold and as such are not fit for daily use. The joints of these round articles also are not evenly made, thus the seized items are not primarily designed as ornaments. These have been given the shape of bangles/churis only to circumvent the provisions of Gold (Control) Act, bu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to be used as ornaments, while the revisional authority came to hold that such heavy and pure gold churis were in ever used as ornaments in the State of Orissa. Thus the reasons assigned by opposite parties 1, 2 and 3 are at variance. It is common knowledge that ornaments are capable of almost infinite variations. Prima facie churis are ornaments unless having regard to their purity, size, weight, description or workmanship, it is found that they are commonly used as ornaments in any State or Union Territory. In the orders of opposite parties 1 and 2 there is no finding that the seized churis are not commonly used as ornaments in Orissa. only the revisional authority has found that churis of the kind which were seized are never used as orna ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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