SCN u/s 110 Customs Act cannot be Issued After 1 Year: Delhi HC Directs to Release Detained Goods [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court has held that detention of goods by the Customs Department cannot continue beyond a period of one year, if a show cause notice under section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962 was not issued to the assessee within such period. The court directed to release detained goods.

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the Petitioner is seeking direction to the Respondent to unconditionally release the seized gold bangles of the Petitioner forthwith, detained vide Detention Receipt bearing No- 3605 dated 24th January, 2024. It was submitted that the Petitioner who was a minor child at the time, was intercepted by Customs officials at Terminal 3, IGI Airport, New Delhi, upon his arrival on 24th January, 2024.

Upon such detention, two yellow bangles weighing 50 grams were recovered from him, while he was passing through the Green Channel. Thereafter, no show cause notice has been issued and more than one year has passed. Hence, the present petition has been filed seeking release of the detained goods.

Mr. Harpreet Singh, Senior Standing Counsel for Respondent accepted the notice issued and submitted that admittedly, no show cause notice has been issued upon the Petitioner within the stipulated time period of six months of seizure of goods. Moreover, there has been no appraisement of the goods either.

It was viewed that “Once the goods are detained, it is mandatory to issue a show cause notice and afford a hearing to the Petitioner. The time prescribed under Section 110 of The Customs Act, 1962, is a period of six months and subject to complying with the formalities, a further extension for a period of six months can be taken by the Department for issuing the show cause notice. In this case, the one year period itself has elapsed, thus no show cause notice can be issued. The detention is therefore impermissible.”

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A division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta cited Section 110 of the Customs Act, 1962 which prescribes a period of six months. Further, subject to complying with certain formalities, a further extension for a period of six months for the Department to issue a show cause notice can be given in terms of Section 110(5).

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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