9911796707
TMI Blog1966 (9) TMI 41X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e-tax assessee. The petitioner firm was obtaining supplies of camphor, cloves, cassia etc. from dealers in Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta including Jayachandlal Sethia with whom the petitioner had a running account. During November and December 1964 Jayachandlal Sethia despatched to the petitioner-firm four cases of camphor and one bag of cassia. The officers of the Central Intelligence Unit of the Collectorate of Central Excise, Madras, seized those goods. The petitioner approached the Central Excise Department for the release of the goods, producing the railway receipts endorsed in its favour. On 11-1-1965 the petitioner wrote to the department undertaking to execute the necessary bond for obtaining release of the goods pending investigation. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as including an Additional Collector of Customs. Section 2(34) defines 'proper officer' in relation to any functions to be performed under the Act as meaning the officer of Customs who is assigned those functions by the Board or the Collector of Customs. Section 3 classifies the officers of Customs as Collectors of Customs, Appellate Collectors of Customs, Deputy Collectors of Customs, Assistant Collectors of Customs and such other class of officers of customs as may be appointed for the purposes of the Act. Section 4 empowers the Central Government to appoint such persons as it thinks fit to be the officers of Customs, and sub-section (2) of that section empowers the Central Govt. to authorise the Board, Collector of Customs or a Deputy or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... xceed one thousand rupees and where the penalty proposed to be imposed does not exceed two hundred rupees, by a gazetted officer of customs lower in rank than an Assistant Collector of Customs. It is submitted by Mr. Venugopal, learned counsel for the petitioner that a reading of Sections 3, 4, 5 and 122 together would show that the jurisdiction of the Customs Officers are demarcated by territorial boundaries and by pecuniary jurisdiction. According to the learned counsel the notification under Section 4(1) would indicate that the jurisdiction is territorial and so far as properties that are found in the Madras state are concerned, the Collector of Customs, Calcutta, has no jurisdiction. This contention cannot be accepted as a reading of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d to return the goods to the person from whose possession they were seized if no notice in respect of the seizure is given under clause (a) of Section 124 within six months for a further period not exceeding six months. In this case the goods were seized in January 1965 and the show cause notice was given by the Collector of Customs in November 1965 and what the Collector proposes to do under section 124 is to confiscate the goods or to impose a penalty on the petitioner. The question will be whether the Collector of Customs, Calcutta has jurisdiction in this case to issue a show cause notice. Section 111 enumerates the goods that are liable to confiscation; section 112 specifies persons who are liable for penalty for improper importation o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e Collector of Customs, Madras, has no right to transfer the case to the Collector of Customs, Calcutta, as he is not empowered to do so under the Act. In his communication to the petitioner the Collector of Central Excise, Madras, stated that the concerned cases are being transferred to the Collector of Central Excise, West Bengal, Calcutta. It is true the Collector of Customs, Madras, has no right to transfer the cases that are within his jurisdiction to the Collector having jurisdiction in some other area. But obviously what the Collector of Customs, Madras, meant was that he was handing over the files to the Collector having jurisdiction. There is no transfer in the sense that the Madras Collector was transferring to the Collector, Calc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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