KEWAL KRISHAN Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by special leave against the judgment and order of the High Court of the Punjab and raises the constitutionality of S. 178A of the Sea Customs Act, 1878" (Act 8 of 1878) which has been held by this Court to be constitutional in the Collector of Customs, Madras vs. N. Sampathu Chetty. 1962-1 SCJ 68.

(2.) At the time of arguments before us a further point was raised that in order that S. 178A of the Sea Customs Act may become applicable, the prosecution must further prove that the goods which were sought to be affected by the order of the Customs Officer were goods of foreign origin and there must be evidence in support of the reasonableness of the belief of the Customs Officer that the goods were smuggled goods. The question now sought to be raised was not agitated in any of the Courts below.

(3.) The appellant on February 11, 1958, when he was sitting in a third class compartment of the Amritsar Kalka train standing on Platform No. 5 of the Amritsar Railway Station, was searched by a Customs Official and some bars of gold were found tied round his waist. These gold bars were seized and a recovery memo was prepared. Out of these gold bars four were of base metal and the rest were of pure gold some bearing the stamp of Johnson Mathey and Co. Ltd., 995-10 tolas and 21/2 bars bore marks of N. M. Rothschild and Sons 10 tolas (990-1). No permit from the Reserve Bank to import this gold was produced by the appellant. Under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947, the importation of gold without such permit is prohibited and such contravention is punishable under S. 23-A of the said Act read with S. 167(81) of the Sea Customs Act.