9911796707
TMI Blog1978 (4) TMI 97X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m under the provisions of the Customs Act (hereinafter referred to as " the Act "). The appeal lies within a very narrow compass and turns upon the interpretation of the order passed by the appellate authority under section 128 of the Act. On 27th February, 1969, the respondent, Pratap Rai was detained at Jabalpur by the Customs authorities while he was travelling by the Bombay Janata Express. On being searched, as many as 23 wrist watches on which no customs duty was paid were recovered from his person. Thereafter, adjudication proceedings under section 122 of the Act were commenced by the Assistant Collector of Customs which culminated in the order of the Assistant Collector dated 30th June, 1969, by which the watches were seized and or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the order by the Appellate Collector be quashed. The plea taken by the respondent appears to have found favour with the High Court which allowed the petition, quashed the notice as also the fresh adjudication proceedings. The appellant obtained special leave of this court against the order of the High Court and hence this appeal before us. The only point that was contended before us by Mr. E. C. Agrawala appearing in support of the appeal was that the High Court has erred in not properly interpreting the order of the Appellate Collector. According to the learned counsel, a true and plain interpretation of the order of the Appellate Collector would clearly reveal that he had merely vacated the order of the Assistant Collector because i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ere conducted according to the principles of natural justice. It seems to us that whenever an order is struck down as invalid being in violation of the principles of natural justice there is no final decision of the cause and fresh proceedings are left open. All that is done is that the order assailed by virtue of its inherent defect is vacated but the proceedings are not terminated. In the case of Thimmasamudram Tobacco Co. v. Assistant Collector of Central Excise, Nellore Dn., AIR 1961 AP 324, 325, while construing the provisions of the Central Excises and Salt Act which was almost on identical terms as the Customs Act, a Division Bench of the Andhra Pradesh High Court observed as follows : " Assuming that section 35 of the Central Ex ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ined in Black's Law Dictionary as follows : " Where an offer or admission is made ' without prejudice ', or a motion is denied or a bill in equity dismissed ' without prejudice ', it is meant as a declaration that no rights or privileges of the party concerned are to be considered as thereby waived or lost, except in so far as may be expressly conceded or decided. See, also, Dismissal without prejudice." Similarly, in Wharton's Law Lexicon, the author, while interpreting the term " without prejudice ", observed as follows : " The words import an understanding that if the negotiation fails, nothing that has passed shall be taken advantage of thereafter ; so, if a defendant offers, ' without prejudice ', to pay half the claim, the plainti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... istant Collector had ample jurisdiction in issuing the notice against the respondent in order to start fresh adjudicatory proceedings in accordance with law. The High Court, however, strongly relied on two decisions, namely, the decision of the Madras High Court in the case of Collector of Central Excise, Madras v. K. Palappa Nadar, AIR 1964 Mad 111, and of the Gujarat High Court in the case of Marsden Spg. and Co. Ltd. v. L. V. Pol, Superintendent of Central Excise (Tax), ILR [1965] Guj 240. In the Madras case the order impugned ran as follows : " Having regard to all the circumstances of the case, the Central Board of Revenue hereby directs, ' without prejudice to the merits of the case ', (italics (here in ' ') ours) the order date ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nguishable. In that case the impugned order was extracted thus : " Having regard to all the facts of the case and taking into account the contentions put forth by the appellants, I hereby order that the decision of the Superintendent, Central Excise (Tax), Ahmedabad, shall be set aside. 2. The amounts of excise duty and penalty recovered from the appellants in pursuance thereof shall be refunded to them." Construing this order the High Court observed as follows : " If the appellate order merely annulled the original order without containing any other directions there was no power in the original Tribunal to initiate de novo proceedings and impose a fresh penalty." It appears that the Gujarat High Court practically adopted the reas ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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