(PER : HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE AKIL KURESHI)

1. Petitioners have filed this petition with following prayers:-

“17. In view of what is stated hereinabove and the grounds taken, the Petitioner most respectfully prays that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased-

(i) To issue writ of certiorari or other appropriate writ, order or direction to quash the illegal Panchnama dated 3.1.2012(Annexure No.2), illegal seizure memo dated 9.2.2012(Annexure No.4) and show-cause notice dated 24.1.2003(Annexure No.23) issued by Respondent No.1 and declare the seizure of the imported goods as illegal, wholly without jurisdiction and unauthorized by law;

(ii) To issue writ of certiorari and quash the illegal orders of provisional release and coercive collection and recovery of differential duty of Rs.10,04,322/-, Bank Guarantee of Rs.17,25,000/- and Bond for Rs.68,00,127/- and direct the same to be null and void, and unauthorized by law;

(iii) To issue of writ of mandamus to the Respondents to return the Bond for Rs.68,00,127/-, Bank Guarantee of Rs.17,25,000/- and differential duty illegally collected of Rs.10,04,322/- along with interest to the petitioner;

(iv) To issue writ of mandamus to Respondent No.2 not to proceed with any action for adjudication of the impugned illegal notice issued without jurisdiction by Respondent No.1 which is also barred by limitation and unauthorized by law;

(v) To issue writ of mandamus to Respondents No.1, 3 & 4 to ensure that they do not interfere in respect of any case or proceeding including assessment of any Bill of Entry made by the competent jurisdictional Customs authorities and further to restrain Respondents No.1, 3 & 4 from interfering any proceeding or issuing any orders and directions to other officers as no one is subordinate to them and the DRI is not a superior or higher authority to dictate or direct any particular case to be dealt with or decided in any particular manner according to the whims of the DRI officers;

(vi) To summon the records of lower authorities;

(vii) To stay the proceedings pursuant to the illegal seizure, detention and show-cause notice till the disposal of this Petition by this Hon’ble Court;

(viii) To grant early out-of-turn hearing to the Petitioner;

(ix) To award exemplary costs to the Petitioner to be paid by Respondents No.1, 3 & 4.

(x) To pass such other order or orders as this Hon’ble Court may deem fit and proper having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case.”

2. Briefly stated, facts are as under:-

2.1 The petitioners imported consignment of goods declaring it to be “Eucalyptol” at Nhava Sheva Port, Raigad. The petitioners filed Bill of Entry No.5563058 on 26.12.2011 and declared the import of “Eucalyptol” of 14400 kgs from China. Eucalyptol is classifiable under Customs Tariff Heading No.29092000.

3. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, however, under a belief that the petitioners had made misdeclaration and the goods actually were not “Eucalyptol” prevented clearance of the goods from the port and demanded higher rate of duty on the ground that the imported goods were “Eucalyptus Oil” falling under the Customs Tariff Heading No.33012924. It is not in dispute that “Eucalyptus Oil” would invite customs duty at the rate of 20% as against “Eucalyptol”, which would invite duty at 7.5%.

4. Eventually at the request of the petitioners, the goods were cleared provisionally on 21.2.2012 upon the petitioners paying higher duty and also furnishing bond for the full value of goods with 25% bank guarantee. The petitioners have deposited a sum of Rs.10,04,049/- towards duty and executed bond for a sum of Rs.68,00,127/- and also gave bank guarantee of Rs.17,25,000/-.

5. DRI authorities continued inquiries and summoned the petitioners for recording statements and collected documents. Eventually on 24.1.2013, Respondent No.1, Joint Director, Directorate of Revenue Intelli