- (1.) The short question that arises for determination in this writ petition filed under Article 226 read with Article 19 (1) (f) of the Constitution by Amulya Chandra Paul of Belonia, Tripura, is whether the order dated 16-10-1961, passed by the Collector of Central Excise and Land Customs. Shillong, hereinafter called the Collector, is invalid, as contended by the petitioner or is unassailable in law, as urged on behalf of the respondents, who are the Collector, the Deputy Superintendent of the Customs Department, Agartala, and the Government of India.
(2.) The facts bearing on the controversy are that on 15-7-1961 the petitioner left Belonia in jeep No. TRT 43 with belt-like cloth bags containing obsolete coins, foreign as well as of Indian origin, with the object of disposing them of at Agartala. On reaching the bazar of Udaipur, the Jeep developed some trouble and so the petitioner proceeded with the aforementioned bags to the ferry point, close to the town of Udaipur and boarded bus No. TRS 45 for onward journey to Agartala. When the bus stopped at Kariya Dhepa, some officers of the Customs Department reached there in a jeep and asked the petitioner to get down from the bus. According to the petitioner, the bundle of coins lying inside the bus was seized by those officers and then those officers asked the bus driver to take the vehicle to the Customs House at Agartala. The petitioner was made to sit in that bus. The officers of the Customs Department followed the bus in their own jeep. The petitioner was asked to get down the bus when it reached the Customs House at Agartala. There he was firstly photographed, and thereafter told by the Superintendent of the Central Excise that he was under arrest. He was then interrogated respecting the coins recovered from him. The questions put to and the answers given by the petitioner were recorded and beneath each answer the petitioner appended his signature. He was kept in the lockup of the Kotwali Police Station during the night and was produced before the Sub-divisional Magistrate, Agartala, on the next day. That Magistrate released him on bail.
(3.) It was on 22-7-1961 that the Customs Authorities held enquiry at Belonia to find out the veracity or otherwise of the stand taken by the petitioner, during the course of his interrogation on 15th July; that he had purchased the seized coins in the open market at Belonia and that on the date of their seizure he was proceeding to Agartala to sell them to Roy Jewellery, Agartala. On completion of the enquiry, the Deputy Superintendent of Customs submitted report dated 26-7-1961 to the Collector. The Collector issued show cause notice to the petitioner with a view to adjudication of the charge whether the coins had been smuggled from East Pakistan. Per that notice a query was made from the petitioner if he would like to be heard personally. The petitioner exhibited his inability to appear personally before the Collector but he submitted a long representation refuting the allegation that he had smuggled the goods from East Pakistan. By order dated 16-10-1961, the Collector held that the coins had been illicitly imported by the petitioner from a foreign territory. He, therefore declared the charge against the petitioner established and ordered confiscation of the whole lot of the coins under S. 7 (1) of the Land Customs Act, 1924, read with Sections 167(8) and 19A of the Sea Customs Act, 1878, and Section 23A of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947, hereinafter called the Regulation. The confiscation, the Collector directed, shall be absolute in terms of S. 23A of the Regulation read with Section 183 of the Sea Customs Act. In addition, the Collector imposed on the petitioner a penalty of Rs. 6000/- under Section 167(8) of the Sea Customs Act. A copy of that order was sent to the petitioner on 27-10-1961 under registered cover.;