Ravindra Kumar v. Commr. of Cus. (Commissionerate-III)

CUSTOMS ACT, 1962

--Seizure--Confiscation of consignmentsDesealing of warehouse----Authorities can seal the godown, alongwith the goods inside or seize of the goods and seal the godown, as a preventive measure to restrain the godown owner from using the godown keeping illegally removed goods, atleast till such time, proceedings of confiscation, regarding the goods, being adjudicated upon. Thus, appeal of assessee for desealing the godown, could not be granted. --Assessee was the Manager of Transporting company deals with logistics business, rendering the services of loading and unloading Cargo/goods from carriers and kept in their warehouse and then transport them in carriers to various destinations as per the instructions of customers. One Mr. M requested the service of assessee to transport the Cargo/goods from his 40 feet container owned by him. It is stated that labourers were sent to unload the goods from the 40 feet container to carrier vans and they were kept at the warehouse of the said transporting company. Certain persons who introduced themselves as Customs Officials entered into warehouse seized the documents and sealed the godown. Held: A perusal of section 110 showed that there is no prohibition for sealing any godown, in which goods, which have been illegally removed from CFS, using forged documents. Authorities can seal the godown, alongwith the goods inside or seize of the goods and seal the godown, as a preventive measure to restrain the godown owner from using the godown keeping illegally removed goods, atleast till such time, proceedings of confiscation, regarding the goods, being adjudicated upon. Thus, appeal of assessee for desealing the godown, could not be granted.