Case Law Details
Mohammed Haroon Vs Additional Director General (Madras High Court)
The Hon’ble High Court, Madras in Mohammed Haroon vs. Additional Director General [WP (MD) Nos. 3917 & 3918 of 2020 and WMP (MD) No. 5459 of 2021 decided on April 26, 2020] held that the assessable person cannot be denied access to vital piece of evidence which can prove him innocent in the eyes of law by the department (the Respondent). Further, since this was not done, adverse inference must be necessarily drawn against the Respondent.
Facts:
Mohammed Haroon and Shaikh Mohammed (“the Petitioners”) are Indian Citizens and returned to India after an overseas trip. Each of them carried 200 gms of gold valued at Rs. 7 64,200/- and electronic goods more than Rs. 20,00,000/-. The Petitioners intended to declare their baggage before the customs authority and pay the whole duty but before that they were intercepted and goods in question were seized. They also asked for the CCTV footage from the airport authorities by invoking the provisions of Right to Information Act, 2005 but the same was declined.
They were arrested for a day and sought permission to re-export the seized goods. The present writ petitions are filed as there was no response from the Respondent.
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