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TMI Blog1994 (4) TMI 85X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... atch them to different places by air or mail on payment of royalty to the respective Government, namely, Government of Manipur and Nagaland. As Manipur is not connected to other places of the country by air or rail, the goods are brought to Dimapur and then transported out. The movement of goods within and outside the State is on the basis of Transit passes granted by the officers of the Forest Department. On account of absence of direct air or rail link as aforesaid, it is said, the Manipur Government has entered into an understanding with the Nagaland Government for issue of Transit passes to cover the onward journey of the goods from Dimapur. In other words, whenever the goods are to be taken out of the State of Manipur, a Transit pass is first issued by a competent authority of Manipur State and when the goods reach the State of Nagaland, the authorities of that State in lieu of the Transit passes issued by the Manipur administration issue separate Transit passes of the State of Nagaland and the goods are booked for onward journey by air or rail or by road on the basis of the Transit passes so issued by the authorities of the Nagaland Government. 3.The petitioners have given d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ain local traders to the effect that the cloves in question are of Janjibar origin, during course of hearing, the trade opinions were given up as a basis of the belief regarding the contraband nature of the goods. According to the department, seizure rests on a general belief that cloves are not grown in Manipur or Nagaland or other North-Eastern States and, therefore, coming as they do from Dimapur they must have been smuggled from outside i.e. across the Indo-Burman border. This case, in that sense, is different from the usual run-of-the mill cases where the dispute centres round the `Identity' of the goods. 8.This takes us to the question whether the materials brought on record are relevant and sufficient to sustain the aforesaid belief on the part of the seizing officer on the date of seizure. Before entering upon adjudication of that question it is necessary to sort out the dispute regarding the date of seizure itself. According to the petitioners, the seizure was effected on 30th March, 1993. While according to the department, on that date the goods were merely detained and the actual seizure was made on 3rd and 16th April, 1993. 9.Proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 110 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and WR BCX 77009 were detained on 30th March, 1993 by the Superintendent of Customs and sealed, and (c) the said railway wagons were opened in the presence of R.P.F. staff and independent witnesses. The goods, namely, cloves and Javiri were found to be of foreign origin on the basis of the trade opinion of the `noted dealers of the State'. "After taking all the facts into consideration and careful studies the goods i.e. cloves and Javitri were found to be of foreign origin, hence was seized under Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962". 11.Counsel for the petitioners was at pains to point out that as on 16th April, 1993 the seizing officer had only two materials with him (a) information received from Assistant Security Commissioner, R.P.F. Barauni, leading to scaling of the goods, and (b) trade opinions as contained in Annexures 23, 23(1) and 23(2). As indicated above, during course of hearing, the aforesaid trade opin- ions were not pressed and, in fact, given up as ground of belief and the seizure. 12.In this connection it would be useful to refer to the affidavit sworn by Sri Kamakhya Prasad Sinha, Superintendent of Customs, Barauni, filed during course of hearing on 7th Decembe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with reference to letters and correspondences, reports and news item as well as horticultural literature to substantiate the rival contention that the cloves and other spices of commercial importance are grown, or not grown, in Manipur, Nagaland and other North-Eastern States. I must make it clear that it is neither necessary nor possible to hold enquiry and come to any conclusion on the aforesaid controversy in the instant proceeding. However, since the belief leading to impugned seizure is said to rest on a general belief that spices are not grown in Manipur or Nagaland it is necessary to refer to the aforesaid documents to find out the existence of the reasons for the belief. 14.The Department has placed heavy reliance on Annexure-C/1 which is letter of the Spices Board dated 22nd April, 1993 to the Superintendant (Prev.) Customs and Central Excise, Guwahati stating :- "There is no reports/data about cloves production in North-Eastern States (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura). A Task Force constituted by Government of India (sometime in 1985-86) had testified that the spices like cloves, Nutmeg, sinnamon, can be grown in North-Easte ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... grow there. In view of our expert (illegible) issued by local State Forest Department may not be very reliable. I, therefore, request you to depute some reliable officers to personally verify whether these spices grow in the State of Manipur and Nagaland." Counsel for the Department submitted that the doubt expressed in the aforesaid letter relates to the State of Nagaland and Mizoram alone and not Manipur. However, at least so far as Cr. W.J.C. 474 of 1993 is concerned, the goods are said to be the forest produce of the State of Nagaland and originated from there. Besides, all the impugned consignments including those coming from Manipur were admittedly booked from Dimapur. 16.The State of Manipur and Nagaland have filed affidavits enclosing documents in support of the claim of the petitioners. So far as State of Manipur is concerned the affidavit states that out of 8 districts comprising the State, five are hill districts inhabited by tribals, who earn their livelihood from out of the forest produce. It is said that the hilly area comprises of thick jungles in which various forest produce including timbers and spices, such as cloves, cardamom, Javitri, Dalchini, betel nut etc. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ct that agricultural and horticultural items which were not produced earlier in particular area are now being grown or produced on account of awareness or advancement. 19.None of the documents rules out the possibility of cloves and other spices being found in the hilly areas of the two States. There may not be systematic plantation on commercial scale. But simply because there is no systematic plantation or data available it would not be reasonable to conclude that any spice coming from Manipur and Nagaland must necessarily be of foreign origin, Sri Jai Prakash, who had been deputed to make field investigation could visit only few places of Manipur and not the rest or any part of Nagaland on an account of sudden insurgency and law and order problems. Correspondences are going on and facts are being ascertained. Thus, as I said earlier, it is still a matter of doubt and, as is well known, doubt cannot take the place of belief. 20.The documents which have been relied upon in support of the so called general belief of the department that spices are not grown in the region are subsequent to the seizure. It is doubtful whether Sri Pillai also shared the said belief. At least in Annex ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted where the articles are seized in the reasonable belief that the goods were smuggled the court should not sit in appeal over the belief of the officer. In the said two cases the facts were entirely different. In the former, five pieces of gold bullion weighing 290-6 totals were seized from a passenger travelling without ticket in a passenger train. In the latter case the article seized was a Waist-chain (Kandora) weighing 820 grammes made of pure 24 carat gold coated with mercury so as to give an impression that it was made of silver. On these facts, it was held that the Court should not substitute its own belief in plea of the belief of the Customs official based on his experience and expertise. It was said, "Whether or not the officer concerned had entertained reasonable belief under the circumstances is not a matter which can be placed under legal microscope with an over indulgent eye which sees no evil anywhere within the range of its eye sight. The circumstances have to be viewed from the experienced eye of the officer who is well equipped to entertain the suspicious circumstances and to form a reasonable belief in the light of the said circumstances." 23.There can be no d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hey are not smuggled goods could be on the person from whose possession such goods were seized. This position would be very much clear if it can be contrasted with a case where Customs Officer seizes any of such goods merely on suspicion that they are smuggled. A suspicion can arise from peculiar kind of movement on the part of the person who is supposed to be in possession of some smuggled goods. It may arise from the kind of dealing that the person might be having in regard to certain goods, which the Customs Officer might thereupon subject to be smuggled. One may conceive of a number of other ways in which a suspicion may arise in the mind of the Customs Officer that any particular person is possessed of smuggled goods. A belief, on the other hand, cannot arise merely in the circumstances in which a suspicion can arise. A belief in the existence of a thing requires a more solid foundation than in the case of a mere suspicion. It may be based upon some definite information acquired from a reliable source that a certain person is in possession of smuggled goods. The belief again, as required by S. 178A of the Sea Customs Act, must be a reasonable one, not a belief of a man who jus ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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