ANIL DAS Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This judgment disposes of above noted three writ petitions, by which petitioners have challenged three separate detention orders passed against them, each dated 6th April, 1999 under Section 3(1) of the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974 for short the Act) by the respondent No. 2, with a view to preventing them from engaging in and transporting smuggled goods. These petitions raise a common question whether petitioners were prevented from making effective representation against the impugned order of detention, on the ground that compete copies of the documents, in the language known to them, relied upon by the detaining authority, were not supplied thereby vitiating their continued detention.

(2.) Brief facts are: that on 9th August, 1998 officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (for short DRI) intercepted an abandoned truck near Agra; no person was available in the truck, the officers kept surveillance for nearly two hours to locate its driver or any of its occupant but in vain. Thereafter truck was brought from Agra to the Office of D.R.I., Paryavaran Bhawan, CGO Complex, New Delhi from which 228 packages containing bearings and other miscellaneous items, viz. re-chargeable light with radio and cassette player of foreign origin collectively valued at Rs. 90,49,550.00 , were recovered. These were seized under the Customs Act, 1962. Contraband items were found concealed under some animal fodder. Receipts of the animal fodder recovered from the truck revealed that the goods originated from Siliguri, West Bengal. A follow up action was taken and during investigations the petitioners were summoned; they, in their separate statements recorded on 14th September, 1998, inter alia, admitted that they had been dealing in smuggling of foreign goods for the last about 3 years alongwith their associates. However, they claimed that for the last about 4-5 months they had been working independently and the goods seized by the DRI belonged to their syndicate and were loaded in the first week of August 1998 from Kishanganj; that the contraband was owned by Kamal Hazra petitioner. Consequently they were arrested and produced before the Judicial Magistrate, Siliguri on 15-9-98 and transit remand was obtained. Thereafter they were brought to Delhi and produced in the Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House, New Delhi and were remanded to judicial custody from time to time.

(3.) On the basis of the above allegations a complaint was filed under the Customs Act, 1962 on 12.11.1998 in the Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, cognizance of which was taken by the learned trial Court. In the meantime a show cause notice was also issued by the Custom Authorities and a reply to the same was sent by them.