S BALBIR SINGH Vs. COLLECTOR OF CENTRAL EXCISE AND LAND CUSTOMS NEW DELHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this writ petition only two points fall for decision. The first one relates to the vires of section 178-A of the Sea Customs Act, though the attack is only confined to Article 19 (1) (f)and (g) of the Constitution. It is conceded that this section has been held by the Supreme Court not to be violative of Article 14: vide Babulal Amthalal v. Collector of Customs, Calcutta, (S)AIR 1957 SC 877. The second point relates to the construction of Section 167 (8) of the Sea customs Act.

(2.) THE facts do not seem to be disputed and it is common ground that the petitioner was arrested on 29th of September 1957 and 38 tolas and 1 1/2 rattis of gold, consisting of four bars, was recovered from his possession. He was tried and convicted of an offence under Section 167 (81) of the Sea Customs Act and sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment. A revision against the order of the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Amritsar, with respect to this conviction, is pending in this Court.

(3.) ON 8th of March 1958 the Customs authorities sent a notice to the petitioner to show cause as to why the gold recovered from his possession be not confiscated and why further penal action be not taken against him under the provisions of the Sea Customs Act. The petitioner's attention was specifically drawn to Section 178-A of the above Act. The Collector seems to have ultimately confiscated the gold recovered from the petitioner's possession and also to have imposed a penalty to the extent of Rs. 3,000/- on 30th of August 1958. The petitioner preferred an appeal to the Central Board of Revenue, but he was called upon to deposit the amount of penalty, failing which his appeal was liable to be dismissed for non-compliance with the provisions of Section 189 of the Sea Customs Act. The petitioner objected to this course and expressed his inability to deposit the penalty, with the result that on 13th of May 1959 the Central Board of Revenue rejected his appeal on the ground of non-compliance with the provisions of Section 189 of the Sea Customs Act. On 24th of august 1959 the present writ petition was filed in this Court and, as already noticed, vires of section 178-A of the Sea Customs Act have been assailed on the ground that its provisions are violative of clauses (f) and (g) of Article 19 of the Constitution.