9911796707
TMI Blog1988 (9) TMI 65X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ) of Customs and Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal, respondent No. 4. The copies of the said orders are marked as annexures 'C', 'D' and 'E' to the writ petition. It is stated that being a police officer the petitioner is to combat with the miscreants, anti-socials in order to protect the life, property and safety of the public at large and for the said purpose the petitioner is to carry a revolver all the time. It is further stated that the petitioner's own elder brother went to England for higher studies and the said petitioner's elder brother purchased a 1.32 bore Smith and Wesson Revolver and 50 number of cartridges and exported the said revolver as a gift to the petitioner. The office of the Indian Airlines duly sent a notic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng their minds arbitrarily rejected the petitioner's contention in taking delivery of the revolver which was imported as a gift. 2. The writ petition is contested by the respondents customs authorities. 3. Mr. Bose, learned Advocate appearing for the petitioner has submitted that Section 11 of the Customs Act cannot stand in the way of importing a small fire arms as a gift in favour of the petitioner, who is a police officer and particularly when it was imported there was no specific order of prohibition by the respondent No. 1 which only came into effect in the year 1986. He has further argued that on 6-11-1985 when the said goods have arrived at Calcutta Airport there was no order of prohibition by the respondent No. 1 for importing f ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e as required under the law; but the question has been raised as to the background of the case whether it would be justified to exercise the discretion to permit the petitioner to redeem instead of absolute confiscation of the item itself. Looking to the decision as reported in A.I.R. 1982 S.C. 1982 (supra), this court finds that the Collector of Customs passed an order for absolute confiscation of the imported item without giving the petitioner an option to redeem the same on payment of such fine as may be considered appropriate by him. Reliance was placed upon Section 125(1) of the Customs Act in support of the plea that the Collector had the discretion to pass such an order and he should address himself to the question whether or not the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with sophisticated weapons is very evident. The matter has been pending for over three years. Having considered all the relevant circumstances the goods have been confiscated. The Tribunal has clearly found that since the authorities concerned and/or the subordinate authorities did not consider their discretion the Tribunal does not feel inclined to exercise such discretion to permit the petitioner to redeem the goods. The question of further consideration in the situation does not arise. For any academic purpose this court does not feel that the matter should go back on remand keeping the entire matter in cold storage for many more years and the entire purpose to carry the weapon will lose its force and purpose. Instead of remitting the c ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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