9911796707
TMI Blog1963 (7) TMI 3X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... guments of Mr. T. Govindarajulu, Advocate for the Petitioner and Mr. S. Mohan, Advocate for Additional Government Pleader on behalf of the respondent, and having stood over for consideration till this day, the court made the following order: 2.This is a petition under Article 226 challenging the order of the Collector of Customs, Madras, on the ground that the principles of natural justice have been violated and that finding that the petitioner is a person concerned in the offence of illegal import within the meaning of Section 167(8) of the Sea Customs Act has been reached on the basis of no evidence whatsoever and accordingly the order impugned is also vitiated by errors apparent on the face of the record. 3.The enquiry conducted by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Two airmail letters were seized from Ponmadurai Pandian which the order states confirmed the above conclusion of the Department. 4.Certain statement appear to have been recorded from the passengers but none from the petitioner Ponnalagu. It may be stated here that while the seizures were affected on 2nd and 3rd of April, 1960, Ponnalagu came from Singapore to India on the 7th of April, 1960. He was detained at the Meenambakkam airport and the order states that "when interrogated, Sri Ponnalagu admitted that he sent the aforesaid goods to Shri Ponmadurai Pandian through Shri Nagarajan and others". This alleged admission of Ponnalagu forms part of the basis of the charge against Ponnalagu and the findings against him. 5.To a notice issue ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tation has been established beyond doubt." 6.The above extract virtually comprises the entirety of the evidence against Ponnalagu. What this evidence is which is claimed to lead to the conclusion that the petitioner was concerned in the illegal importation has to be examined, for, it is the contention of the petitioner that apart from bald statements of this type, the enquiring authority has not so much as stated what the evidence consists of, how that evidence was brought on record and how it supports the finding reached. 7.I may first refer to the alleged admissions made by Ponnalagu. He is said to have admitted "everything" but refused to give a written statement. It is unfortunate that the Customs Collector has not cared to make pa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion as to why the alleged confession was not brought on record in a proper manner as evidence against the petitioner. It is abundantly clear that the petitioner was not even made aware of the bundle of facts which formed the entirety of the evidence against him and the opportunity given to him to show cause is an opportunity only in name. I am firmly of the opinion that the principles of natural justice which have been repeatedly emphasised by several decisions of this Court particularly in customs cases have been thrown overboard. 8.The next item is the so-called documentary evidence connecting the sender, the petitioner, with the goods. This documentary evidence consists of a couple of airmail letters addressed to Ponmadurai Pandian. T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ose letters which indicated that the author of the letters was the petitioner Ponnalagu. Apparently for the reason that Ponnalagu was given no opportunity of challenging any statement made by Ponmadurai Pandian (it may here be stated that Ponmadurai claimed that the statement was extracted from him under duress), the learned Addl. Government Pleader did not rely upon the statement in the course of the arguments before me. In these circumstances, it passes my comprehension how anything can be spelt out of those letters which would indicate me complicity of Ponnalagu in the illicit import in question. As matters stand, therefore, these letters prove nothing in so far as the petitioner is concerned, and the mere statement of the Collector of C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
