COLLECTOR OF CUSTOMS MADRAS Vs. C TARACHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Collector of Customs, Madras, has come up, by grant of special leave to appeal, against the judgment of a Division Bench of the Madras High Court quashing an order of the Central Government which confirmed an order of the appellant confiscating a large quantity of sewing machine needles,. The respondent had imported the needles under a licence which did not, according to the case of the Customs Department, cover the goods imported. A learned Single Judge of the High Court had set aside a penalty of Rs. 5,000/- imposed upon the respondent as the sewing needles imported by the petitioner-respondent were not, according to the learned Judge, proved to belong to the prohibited class, but the confiscation order had, rather inconsistently, been maintained. On an appeal by the respondent against the refusal to quash the confiscation order, the Division Bench of the Madras High Court came to the conclusion that there was no prohibition at all as contemplated by S. 3 of the Import Control Order, 1955, made under Sections 3 and 4A of the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), so that no further question need be considered. The Division Bench, therefore, did not go into the other questions raised by the respondent, who was petitioner before the High Court, relating to violation of rules of natural justice or the merits of the case that the sewing needles imported were covered by the licence. It, therefore, held that the confiscation order could not stand and had to be quashed with the penalty.

(2.) The Division Bench was opinion that a prohibition or restriction authorised by the Act should be imposed by a Control Order such as the Control Order of 1955 duly notified in the Official Gazette and not by any other means. It held that the prohibition relied upon the by Customs Department in the instant case did not satisfy this requirement.

(3.) Section 3 of the Act reads as follows: