Judgment

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J —

1.Leave granted.

2.Challenge in this appeal is to the Order passed by a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court dismissing the appeal filed by the appellant under Section 35 of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (in short the ‘Act’).

3.Background facts in a nutshell are as follows :

Memorandum was issued by the Enforcement Directorate, Ministry of Finance. On the basis of certain statements recorded it was indicated therein that M/s Godsons (India) and its proprietor, the present appellant had acquired foreign exchange contravening the provisions of Section 8(1) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (in short the ‘Foreign Exchange Act’) thereby rendering him liable to be proceeded under Section 50 of the Foreign Exchange Act. The memorandum was issued under Rule 3 of the Adjudication Proceedings and Appeal Rules, 1974 (in short ‘Adjudication Rules’). The reply to the show cause notice was filed by the appellant. The Special Director, of Foreign Exchange Act passed an Order on 13th May, 2005 imposing penalty of Rs.25 lakhs on the appellant. The appellant preferred an appeal before the Appellate Tribunal (Foreign Exchange) (in short the ‘Tribun