JUDGMENT

(Prayer: Writ Petition is filed under Article 226 of Constitution of India to issue a Writ of Certiorari, to call for the records in respect of the adjudication order passed by the respondent in C.No.VIII/10/17/2016, dated 13.12.2019 and quash the same.)

The necessary facts, which are required to be noticed for the disposal of this writ petition are as follows:

On 28.10.2015, based on the specific input received from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Chennai Zone, surveillance on the movement of vehicles were mounted in the Pattukkottai-Thanjavur Highway, where, the officers of the customs identified and intercepted a TATA Indica Vista car bearing Registration No.TN-47-AD-7027 at Pulavankadu. Two persons were inside the vehicle, namely, M.Karthikeyan of Karur and A.Sheik Fareed of Pallapatti, Karur District. On a reasonable belief, in pursuant to the intelligence, since the smuggling of gold were not denied by the two persons, the car along with the occupants were taken to the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, Thanjavur, for detailed examination.

2. On the thorough examination of the vehicle in the presence of two independent witnesses and the suspects, the officers of the revenue noticed 12 packets wrapped with white colour adhesive tapes kept concealed under the back seat of the car. Subsequently, the occupants said to have admitted that the boxes contained gold smuggled from Srilanka via Muthupettai sea shore and received by a person, by name, one Raj near Thambikottai and they were meant for onward carriage/transportation to Chennai.

3. Thereafter on opening the boxes, the officers found that the 12 packets contained 104 yellow coloured metal biscuits and bars. Upon examination of the same 80 biscuits were found to be gold biscuits with foreign markings and 24 numbers of yellow coloured metal bars in crude form and thereafter, the gold Assayer assessed the biscuits and certified that all the 80 pieces of foreign marked gold biscuits have purity of 24 carat and 24 numbers of yellow coloured metal bars were gold bars in crude form with the purity of 24 carat. He also ascertained the total weight of the 80 pieces of foreign marked gold biscuits as 8000 grams (each 100 grams) and the total weight of 24 pieces of gold bars in crude form as 7229 grams and altogether weighing 15229 grams. The total value of the goods was also arrived at Rs.4,12,70,590/- based on the prevailing market rate of Rs.2,710/- per gram of 24 carat gold.

4. Pursuant to this incident, actions were initiated against those two persons, and also against some other persons, based on the input the customs received from those two persons. Ultimately, an adjudication proceedings went on and an adjudication order was passed by the customs on 31.03.2017, where, the goods, which were seized, were ordered for absolute confiscation including the packaging material as well as the vehicle, that is, TATA Indica Vista car, under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 (in short 'the Act') and the authorities also imposed a penalty under Section 112 of the Act, on three persons, namely, one Siddique Gani imposing a penalty of Rs.1,00,00,000/- (Rupees one crore only) under Section 112(a) of the Act, and against the two other persons, namely, Sheik Fareed and Karthikeyan, who were present in the car at the time of seizure, a sum of Rs.50,00,000/-(Rupees fifty lakhs only) each, under Section 112(b) of the Act.

5. Pursuant to the said adjudication process and the order of adjudication passed on 31.03.2017, based on the input supplied by them implicating the petitioner herein, the Customs has come forward to issue a show cause notice to the petitioner on 08.09.2017.

6. The said show cause notice was under challenge in W.P.No. 26000 of 2017 filed by the petitioner herein before the Principal Bench of this Court, where, initially by order, dated 05.10.2017 an interim order not to precipitate the matter further was ordered, and thereaf