Judgment

GAJENDRAGADKAR, J. : On the 26th July, 1958, the Collector of Central Excise, Nagpur, passed an order directing absolute confiscation of five bars of gold weighing 290.6 Tolas found in the possession of the appellant Pukhraj and imposing upon him a personal penalty of Rs. 25,000 under S. 167(8) of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 read with S. 19 of the said Act and S. 23-A of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947. Aggrieved by the said order the appellant filed a writ petition in the High Court of Bombay at Nagpur under Arts. 226 and 227 of the Constitution on the 15th September 1958. By this petition, the appellant claimed a writ of Certiorari or other appropriate writ or order quashing the impugned order. It was urged by him in support of his petition, inter alia, that section 178A of the Sea Customs Act was unconstitutional in that it infringed the appellant s fundamental right under Art. 19(1) (f) and (g) of the Constitution. It was also urged that on the merits, the said impugned order was not justified by the relevant statutory provisions of the Sea Customs Act read with the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. The High Court rejected the appellant s challenge to the validity