ASST. COLLECTOR Vs. JOHNEY BROTHERS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Judgment of the court was delivered by Balakrishna Eradi, J.--The appellants in this writ appeal are (i) the Assistant Collector Customs (Exports), Custom House, Cochin and (ii) the Collector of Customs and Central Excise, Cochin. The appeal has been filed by them against the Judgment of a learned single Judge of this court allowing O.P. No. 5018 of 1972 filed by the respondent herein and declaring that the proceedings initiated by the appellants against the respondent under the notice Ext. P-20 for confiscation of certain goods on the ground of violation of S.12(1) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 read with S.23A of the said Act and S.113(d) of the Customs Act, 1962 are illegal and without jurisdiction.

(2.) The parties will hereinafter be referred to in this judgment on the basis of their ranking and array in the original petition, that is, the respondent herein will be referred to as the writ petitioner and appellants Nos. 1 and 2 herein as respondents Nos. 1 and 2.

(3.) The writ petitioner is a firm engaged in the business of export and import of various commodities including rosewood. In October 1972 the writ petitioner firm purchased at a public auction conducted by the Forest Department of the Tamil Nadu Government the right to collect and remove 9769 kg. of Pueraria Javanica Seeds. Thereafter it invited offers from foreign buyers for the purchase of the said commodity and after a good deal of correspondence a contract is said to have been entered into on 9th October 1972 for the sale of the aforesaid goods to a firm in Kuala Lumpur at a price of Malaysian Dollars 2250 per long ton c.i.f., Singapore. Ext. P-16 has been produced by the petitioner as a true copy of the aforesaid contractual agreement. Thereafter the petitioner obtained the requisite licence from the Deputy Chief Controller of Imports and Exports, Ernakulam and made arrangements for shipping the goods to the foreign buyer. But, when the shipping bills were submitted to the customs authorities through the petitioner's shipping agents they were returned with the endorsement - "the price is very low, substantiate". The petitioner thereupon made representations to the Assistant Collector of Customs and produced before him the sale note issued by the Conservator of Forests together with the contract entered into with the foreign buyer and copies of the correspondence that preceded it. Since no favourable orders were issued by the 1st respondent permitting the export of the goods the petitioner made a representation to the 2nd respondent (Collector of Customs) also as per the petition Ext. P-18. In the meantime, the goods were transported to the Port Warehouse in Willingdon Island and kept ready for export by a ship which was due to sail on 12th September 1972. On 10th November 1972 the 1st respondent issued to the petitioner the impugned notice Ext. P-20 which reads as follows: -