Case Law Details
Renaissance Traders Vs State of Assam (Gauhati High Court)
The issue under consideration is whether the Seizure of consignments by Assam Excise Officers in a process of transaction of export from Arunachal Pradesh and imported to Nagaland via Assam route is justified in law?
The petitioners are license holders of Para Military Bonded Warehouses based in Dimapur and engaged in the supply business of wholesale Indian Made Foreign Liquour (IMFL) to Para Military Forces in the State of Nagaland by importing it from other parts of India. The petitioners possessed valid license for wholesale vend of “IMFL”.
In the present case, the consignments were exported from Arunachal Pradesh and imported to Nagaland via the State of Assam through Bandordewa, Tezpur and Golaghat as per the consignment notes. A team of Excise Officers under the Superintendent of Excise, Golaghat, Assam seized the same along with the original documents. The petitioners the legality and validity of the proceedings.
High Court States that, merely, the consignments were exported from a State and imported to another one and there being no applicability in both the States of the Act, 2000 that itself cannot be the ground to hold that the Excise officials had no jurisdiction to carry on the search and seizure of the consignments while on transit through an area covered by the force of the Act, 2000. The jurisdiction exercised for investigation by the Excise officials of the Golaghat district is proper inasmuch as it evolves out of Section 183 under Chapter XIII of the Cr.P.C., 1973 through Sections 42 and the investigation part under Section 43 of the Act, of 2000.
Please become a Premium member. If you are already a Premium member, login here to access the full content.
Author Bio
