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TMI Blog1971 (3) TMI 121X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l charges excepting a charge under Section 5(2) read with Section 5(1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. For that offence he was sentenced to suffer rigorous imprisonment for two years and pay a fine of ₹ 5,000, in., default to suffer further rigorous imprisonment for four months. The substance of the charge under which he was convicted is that he by utilizing his position as a Government servant sent various articles such as Radios, Transistors, Clothes etc., from Goa to Bombay without paying customs duty. He was also held guilty of sending his personal articles in the vehicles engaged by the postal department without paying any charge. The trial court supported its conclusion on a further ground namely that the assets of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , examine the correctness of this finding, it is necessary to set out the material facts. In 1961, the appellant was working as a Senior Superintendent of Post Offices at Jaipur. On December 20, 1961 Goa was liberated by the Indian Army. Thereafter the appellant was ,deputed as a Special Duty Officer to Goa. He took charge in Goa on December 25, 1961. He assumed additional charge as Director of Posts and Telegraphs on May 11, 1962 and he held that office till August 11, 1962. Thereafter he went back to Jaipur. It is alleged that during the period of appellant's stay in Goa, he made large purchases of certain luxury articles. Utilising his official position in the Posts and Telegraphs department at profits. The prosecution relied in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... force on December 20, 1961. Hence Goa must be considered as a part of India from December 20, 1961 and indisputably at any rate from March 27, 1962. Article 1 of our Constitution says : 1. India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States. 2. The states and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule. 3. The territory of India shall comprise- (a) the territories of the States ; (b) the union territories specified in the First Schedule, and (c) such other territories as may be acquired. All the territories that this country may acquire in whatever manner become part of India in view of Article 1 (3) (c). Further in the case of Goa by means of 12th amendment to the Constitution, the same is i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ars that there was a notification issued in the year 1950 declaring Goa to be a foreign territory and thus bringing the exports from that country to India within the purview of Land Customs Act. But that notification cannot continue to have a legal effect after Goa became a part of India. On becoming a part of India Goa ceased to be a foreign territory. The notification in question must have been issued under Section 5 of the Indian Tariff Act, 1934 as it stood in 1950 (that section has been repealed now). That section read: Where a customs duty at any rate prescribed by or under this Act or any other law for the time being in force is leviable on any articles when imported into, or any article when exported from, a port in India the Ce ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... at territory before it was liberated, may be even without paying customs duty and those goods were available for being transmitted to other parts of India. But this circumstance does not change the position in law. It is not necessary for us to consider whether after integration of Goa, the Government could have imposed any duty on the goods that were sent from Goa to other parts of India. Suffice it to say that our attention was not invited to any law imposing such duties. That being so, the conclusion that the appellant had utilised his official position to evade customs duty must fail. In the result this appeal is allowed and the conviction and sentence imposed on the appellant are set aside. He is on bail. His bail bond do stand canc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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