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TMI Blog1986 (4) TMI 181X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the Railway Station, Amritsar and on search of his baggages 230 coins of silver weighing 3.043 Kgs. valued at Rs. 8521.80 P were recovered. On interrogation, he stated that on 17.9.80 he went to Delhi in connection with some assignment of his employer M/s. Castle Mills Depot Katra Jaimal Singh, Amritsar and before his departure for Delhi the appellant gave him a letter for delivery to one Shri Hira Lal, an artisan of Delhi and was also verbally told by the appellant that he should bring silver in the shape of coins from said Shri Hira Lal. However, while admitting the recovery he disowned any concern with the seized coins. Suspecting, the Customs staff seized the said coins under section 110 of the Customs Act on the belief that the same ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e show-cause notice, Shri Dinesh Kumar stated that he had nothing to add to that he had already stated in his statement at the time of seizure. While the appellant in his reply to the show-cause notice stated that the seized silver coins were not actually coins but were silver Sovereigns having religious value and are meant for Lakshmi Puja on the occasion of Diwali. After the usual enquiry, the Adjudicating Authority absolutely confiscated the seized silver coins and also imposed a personal penalty of Rs.500/- on the said Shri Dinesh Kumar carrier and Rs. 2,000/- upon the appellant being the owner of the silver. The appellant and the other Shri Dinesh Kumar preferred their separate appeals before the appellate authority. The appellate auth ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... g which is stamped and issued by or on behalf of Government or by any other authority in exercise of its sovereign power in order to be used for the time being as money, whether such coin is a current coin or not. Since the recovered silver coins were not admittedly stamped and issued by or on behalf of Government or by any authority in exercise of its sovereign power in order to be used for the time being as money, I am of the view that by no stretch of imagination the recovered silver bullions which have the circular shape like a coin can be termed as coin . That the reasoning given by the learned Appellate Authority below that the recovered silver coins are coins because they are understood as such in common parlance and trade is als ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... A read with section 5(i) and (ii) of the Kerala General Sales Tax Act. 6. For, appreciating the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the appellant in the right perspective, it would be useful to refer to the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue s Notification No. 51-Custom, dated 27.8.80, issued under section 11-K of the Customs Act, 1964. Under the said Notification, the silver bullion and coins which have been declared to be specified goods in terms of Notification No. 7-Custom, dated 3.1.1969 issued under section 11-I, ibid, and the aggregate market price of which exceeds the thousand rupees cannot be transported from, into or within the specified area unless they are accompanied by a valid transpo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ular in shape and have the emblem of Laxmi, Ganesh, Guru Nanak, Mahatma Budh, Hanuman etc. are nothing but bullions. For, according to the appellant himself, they were melted down into circular shape from the silver utensils. The argument that the recovered circular pieces of silver have the emblem of Laxmi, Ganesh etc. and that they were perfectly refined is of no consequence because according to Earl Jowitt s Dictionary of English Law, supra, bullion is a bullion even though when silver metal is melted down into any unwrought body of any degree of fineness. On the point of clarity, it may be stated that simply because the recovered articles of silver pieces were perfectly refined, the same cannot be taken out of the definition of bullion ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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