9911796707
TMI Blog2023 (7) TMI 1135X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... raised, instead of relegating the petitioner to the remedy of adjudication under section 122 of the Act - Section 106 of the Act confers power upon the Department to stop and search vehicles if it is being or is about to be used in the smuggling of any goods or in the carriage of any smuggled goods. The power to search is distinct from the power to seize. On a reading of section 106 of the Act, it is evident that power is conferred upon the officers to search a vehicle if they suspect that the vehicle is involved in smuggling or other offences under the Act. Significantly, the said power to search does not confer a right to seize the vehicle on suspicion. Undoubtedly, section 115(1) has no application in the present case. Section 115(2) of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to the petitioner immediately - Petition allowed. X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... from Doha, on flight IX-476. Indian currency amounting to Rs. 75,000/- was seized from the persons sitting inside the car. 5. The respondent has also mentioned that, in a statement given under section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962 (for short 'the Act'), the persons sitting inside the car informed that Sri. Muhammed Jabir (to whom the petitioner had handed over the car for use) had asked them to reach the Cochin International Airport to collect the gold from Sri. Abdulrahman and also handed over the cash to be paid as remuneration for smuggling the gold, which was intended to be transported and handed over to Sri. Muhammed Jabir. In his statement under section 108 of the Act, Sri. Abdulrahiman, who was the person standing outside the car, al ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... any point in time. Further, petitioner, as the owner of the vehicle, is not alleged of any involvement in smuggling. 9. Section 106 of the Act confers power upon the Department to stop and search vehicles if it is being or is about to be used in the smuggling of any goods or in the carriage of any smuggled goods. The power to search is distinct from the power to seize. On a reading of section 106 of the Act, it is evident that power is conferred upon the officers to search a vehicle if they suspect that the vehicle is involved in smuggling or other offences under the Act. Significantly, the said power to search does not confer a right to seize the vehicle on suspicion. 10. Section 110(1) of the Act gives the power to seize vehicles or doc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... iable to confiscation:-- (a) any vessel which is or has been within the Indian customs water, any aircraft which is or has been in India, or any vehicle which is or has been in a customs area, while constructed, adapted, altered or fitted in any manner for the purpose of concealing goods; (b) any conveyance from which the whole or any part of the goods is thrown overboard, staved or destroyed so as to prevent seizure by an officer of customs; (c) any conveyance which having been required to stop or land under section 106 fails to do so, except for good and sufficient cause; (d) any conveyance from which any warehoused goods cleared for exportation, or any other goods cleared for exportation under a claim for drawback, are unload ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... owever, the question is whether, in the contextual setting of the provision, the aforenoted words would include apprehended future use. The admitted case of the Department is that the smuggled goods had never found a place inside the car, nor had the person carrying the smuggled goods entered the car, either in the past or in the present. The Department alleges that two persons came to collect the smuggled goods at the Airport and that they were intercepted even before the gold was collected by them. The said circumstance only indicates a possible future use of the car as a means of transport of the smuggled goods. 14. The power of confiscation is a penal provision. The courts ought not to ascribe a meaning broader than that it ordinarily ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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