9911796707
TMI Blog2012 (10) TMI 273X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ituated at 14-B, Sector F, Sanwer Road, Indore and also seizure of the documents effected during the course of the said search. 2. Briefly stated the petitioner is engaged in the business of manufacture and sale of cigarettes, which is a Tobacco product. According to the petitioner, the authorisation for conducting the search has been ordered by the authorising officer without recording satisfaction of the condition precedent for invoking powers under Section 105(1) of the Customs Act. The search of its premises has been conducted by the respondents without there being any "reason to believe" for issuance of authorisation for search that any goods liable for confiscation or any documents or things which in the opinion of the authorisi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... petitioner without any duty paying documents were also found during the searches at Coimbatore etc. and were placed under seizure. In view of seizures of non-duty paid cigarette manufactured by the petitioner, a decision was taken to search the petitioner's premises immediately to resume incriminating records. 6. On going through the aforesaid satisfaction recorded in the said order and the record produced before us, we find that there was sufficient reason to believe about the existence of the requirement necessary for issuance of authorization for search under Section 105(1) of the Customs Act. 7. The petitioner's reliance on the order passed by this Court in the case of Akash Namkeen Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Commercial Ta ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ation) reported as [2011] 17 Income Tax Judgments 22 (MP) a Division Bench of this Court consisting of Hon'ble the Chief Justice Shri S.R. Alam and Hon'ble Shri Justice Alok Aradhe, the scope and ambit of powers under Section 132A of the IT Act has been clarified in the following passage :- "10. At this stage we deem it appropriate to deal with the scope and ambit of powers under Section 132A of the Income Tax Act with regard to search and seizure. In Seth Brothers (supra), the Supreme Court while dealing with the provisions of Section 132 of the Income Tax Act relating to search and seizure which is pari materia to Section 132A of the Income Tax Act has held that Section does not confer any arbitrary power on revenue officers. It was ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to examine meticulously the information in order to decide for itself as to whether action under Section 132A was called for or not. Suffice it to say that in exercise of extraordinary jurisdiction this court can examine whether the act or issuance of an authorisation under Section 132A is arbitrary or mala fide or whether the subjective satisfaction which is recorded is such that it indicates lack of application of mind of the appropriate authority. According to me the reason to believe must be based on definable material or materials and if the information or the reason to believe has no nexus with the belief or there is no definable material or tangible information for formation of such belief then in such a case action taken under Sect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the scope of interference in the matter and on going through the original record made available to us by the respondents, we find that it cannot be said that the authority which had issued the warrant of authorisation, was not having enough material to form opinion about reason to believe that any goods liable to confiscation, or any documents or things which in his opinion will be useful for or relevant to any proceedings under the Customs Act are secreted in any place as contemplated under Section 105(1) of the Customs Act or that the said authorisation was issued without application of mind. Thus in our view, no case is made out to interfere in the matter at this stage of seizure. 10. In the result, the petition fails and is hereb ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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