UAE Resident’s Gold, 3 iPhones Seized: Delhi HC Clears Release iPhones on Redemption and Storage Fee Payment [Read Order]
The Court noted the petitioner had not been issued a Show Cause Notice before confiscation
UAE – UAE Resident’s Gold – iPhones Seized – Delhi HC – taxscanUAE – UAE Resident’s Gold – iPhones Seized – Delhi HC – taxscan
UAE – UAE Resident’s Gold – iPhones Seized – Delhi HC – taxscanUAE – UAE Resident’s Gold – iPhones Seized – Delhi HC – taxscan
The High Court of Delhi, directed a UAE resident to pay redemption and storage fees for three undeclared iPhone devices seized at the airport, while ordering the release of his gold jewelry without any storage charges.
Chakshu Garg,petitioner-assessee,was a UAE resident holding resident permit no. 784-1993-7096546-1. He was intercepted on arrival from Dubai to Delhi on 3rd March 2024 via Flight SG-12, and certain items were detained,one yellow metal kada (50g), one yellow metal chain (99g), and three iPhone 15 Pro (128 GB).
The authorities assessed the value of the detained goods at Rs. 10,39,144. The petitioner claimed that no Show Cause Notice was issued and no personal hearing was granted before passing the impugned order.
As per the impugned order, the Adjudicating Authority (AA) denied petitioner the benefit of free allowance for not declaring the goods at either the Red or Green Channel. He was treated as an ineligible passenger under the relevant customs notification and baggage rules.
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The gold items,a kada (50g) and a broken gold chain (99g),were absolutely confiscated. The three iPhone 15 Pro devices were also confiscated, but he was given the option to redeem them by paying Rs. 32,000 along with applicable customs duty within 120 days. A penalty of Rs. 1,29,000 was also imposed.
In this petition, the petitioner only sought the release of the two gold items.
The petitioner stated that the gold chain and kada were personal jewellery and part of personal belongings. Photos were submitted to support this claim, and it was noted that the chain was seized in a broken state. The petitioner also argued that skipping the Show Cause Notice was against the law, as held by the Court in earlier cases, including Mr. Makhinder Chopra vs Commissioner of Customs New Delhi.
The petitioner agreed to pay the redemption fine for the iPhones and asked for the release of the gold items.
The division bench comprising Justice Prathiba M.Singh and Justice Rajneesh Kumar Gupta allowed the gold items to be released without storage charges. For the iPhones, the petitioner was directed to pay both the redemption fee and storage charges.
The Court ordered that all detained goods be released within two weeks and disposed of the petition.
To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE
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