R. Vs. Raveendran, J. - (1.) Leave granted. Heard.
(2.) The case of the appellant in brief is as follows : The appellant, a Computer Engineer, who was lucratively employed in United States of America for more than ten years, returned to India with his earnings and took up employment in Hyderabad in the year 2006. He wanted to buy a property at Chennai. But his attempts were not fruitful. He was advised that if he wanted to buy a good plot, he must be ready to pay a considerable part of the sale price in cash as advance to the prospective seller. When the appellant ultimately identified a prospective seller, he wanted to go to Chennai with a large sum and finalise the deal. He contacted the Reserve Bank of India, ICICI Bank (his Banker) and the Airport Authorities to find out whether he can carry a large sum of money in cash, while travelling. He was informed that there was no prohibition. Thereafter he drew Rs. 65 lakhs from his bank. He travelled by air from Hyderabad to Chennai on 15-6-2007, carrying the said cash. At the Hyderabad Airport, he disclosed to the security personnel who checked his baggage that he was carrying cash of Rs. 65 lakhs along with a bank certificate certifying the source and withdrawals. After the contents of his bags were examined by the security personnel, he was allowed to board the aircraft without any objection. But when the flight reached Chennai, some police officers and others (who were later identified as officers of Income Tax Investigation Wing) rushed in, loudly called out the name of the appellant. When appellant identified himself, he was virtually pulled from the aircraft and taken to an office in the first floor of the airport. He was questioned there about the money he was carrying. The appellant showed them the cash and bank certificate evidencing the withdrawals and explained as to how the amounts formed part of his legitimate declared earnings which were drawn from his banks account. He also explained to them the purpose of carrying such huge amount. The officers recorded his statement. After a few hours, the second respondent came in and asked the appellant to sign some papers without allowing him to read them and without furnishing him copies. It became obvious to the appellant that the officers of the Income Tax Department were suspecting him of carrying the money illegally. They even attempted to coerce him to admit that the amount was being carried by him for some illegal purpose. Having failed, they seized the entire amount under a mahazar, gave him a receipt and permitted him to leave. In this process, he was detained for about 15 hours without any justifiable reason. To add insult to the injury, the Tax Intelligence Officers prematurely and hurriedly informed the newspapers, that they had made a big haul of Rs. 65 lakhs in cash, making it appear as though the appellant was illegally and clandestinely carrying the said amount, and they had successfully caught him while he was at it. The next day all three leading Tamil Newspapers (Daily Thanthi, Dinamalar, Dinamani) as also an English daily - Hindu, prominently carried the news of the seizure from him. The news reports disclosed his name, profession, his native place in Tamil Nadu, his place of employment. The news report also stated that he was not able to satisfactorily explain the source of the amount and that the officials had found discrepancies between what was drawn by him from the bank and what he was carrying. Ultimately, two months later, after completing the investigation and verification, as nothing was found to be amiss or irregular, the seized money was returned to him, but without any interest.
(3.) The appellant lists the following four acts on the part of the Income Tax Officials as objectionable and violative of his fundamental rights : (i) his illegal detention for more than 15 hours at the Chennai Airport; (ii) illegal seizure of the cash carried by him despite his explanation about the source and legitimacy of the funds with Suppl orting documents; (iii) failure to return the seized amount for more than two months without any justification; and (iv) prematurely and maliciously disclosing to the media a completely false picture of the incident. The said acts, according to him, tranished his reputation among his friends, relatives and acquaintances, by being dubbed as some sort of a criminal. Being aggrieved, he filed a writ petition (WP No. 27344/2007) in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh in December, 2007 seeking several reliefs. He sought action against the Income Tax officials and the newspapers. He also sought compensation for the illegal acts, and quashing of the proceedings initiated against him under Income Tax Act. He sought appropriate directions for reforming and streamlining the procedure relating to checking of passengers. He also sought some consequential reliefs. He impleaded four officers of the Income Tax department, the Director of the Hyderabad Airport and the editors of the three Tamil newspapers as respondents.;