Case Law Details
Fairdeal Shipping Agency Pvt. Ltd. Vs Joint Commissioner Of Customs (Preventive) (Rajasthan High Court)
Provisions of Section 2(34) defines ‘proper officer‘, Section 6 which defines ‘functions and powers of custom officer’ and Section 28 which refers to ‘procedure of demand and recovery by the proper officer’ having jurisdiction to issue show cause notice and to carry out adjudication, we hold that the entire proceedings initiated by officers of DRI in as much as by issuance of show cause notice under Section 28/124 of the Customs Act lacks jurisdiction and are without any authority of law because the present show cause notice is not issued by custom officer but by DRI officer who has not been assigned specific function/power under Section 6 to issue show cause notice U/S 28 of the Act of 1962. DRI officer is not Competent Authority to issue show cause notice and adjudicate the same as “proper officer”. The Act, the notification relied upon do not define and bring the DRI officers within four corners of “proper officers” having functions and powers to act under Section 28 of the Act of 1962
Hence, in the light of above discussion they lack jurisdiction.
High Court further held that DRI Officers lacks jurisdiction qua the functions to be executed under the Act of 1962, the proceedings under Section 124 is also illegal, void ab initio and nullity.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF RAJASTHAN HIGH COURT
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