ppn/Rekha Patil IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION PRACHI PRACHI PRANESH WRIT PETITION NO. 1326 OF 2014 PRANESH NANDIWADEKAR NANDIWADEKAR Date: 2025.06.30 WITH

15:25:32 +0530 NOTICE OF MOTION NO. 617 OF 2017 M/s. Skypak Services Specialists Limited A Public Limited Joint Stock Company being registered under the provisions of Companies Act, 1956 having its registered office at 3, Sona Udyog, Parsi Panchayat Road, Andheri East, Mumbai – 400 069 … Petitioner Versus

1. Union of India Through the Ministry of Finance (represented by its secretary), Department of Revenue having his office at North Block, New Delhi.

2. Commissioner of Customs Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, having his office at Avas Corporate Point, Andheri (East), Mumbai – 400 059.

3.Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Having his office at 5/6^th floor, Avas Corporate Point, Makwana Lane, Andheri Kurla Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai 400 059. … Respondents ______________________________________________________ Mr. Chirag Shetty i/by Economic Law Practice for Petitioner.

Ms. Maya Majumdar a/w Mr. Abhishek R. Mishra for Respondents.

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CORAM : M.S. Sonak &

Jitendra Jain, JJ.

RESERVED ON : 24 June 2025 PRONOUNCED ON 30 June 2025 Judgment (Per Jitendra Jain, J.):-

1. This petition challenges an order passed by respondent no.2 dated 28 November 2013 and the order dated 20 February 2014 passed by respondent no.3 confirming the Order-in-Original (O-I-O) whereby the petitioner’s registration under the Courier Imports And Exports (Clearance) Regulations, 1998 (‘1998 Regulations’) was revoked and an order of forfeiture of Rs.10 lakhs, deposited by the petitioner as security at the time of registration, was passed.

Brief Facts:-

2. The petitioner is engaged in the business of providing courier services. The petitioner was granted registration under the 1998 Regulations for conducting its business of clearing express import/export cargo through the courier mode as an authorised courier at the Mumbai terminal.

3. In the first week of November 2012, intelligence was received that the two consignments imported from gulf country carried contraband gold jewellery. Based on this intelligence, two consignments covered by Airway Bills (‘AWB’) Nos.9717334743 and 9717334738 dated 8 November 2012 were detained. The clearance of the said two consignments were handled by the petitioner for which ‘Form IV’ Bill of Entry was filed by the petitioner. The goods were declared as ‘Die and Hydraulic bottle jack’ valued at Rs.8,728/- and the importers were entities controlled by one Shri Mansukhlal Dhanak. On an in-depth enquiry and examination of the said two consignments, gold jewellery weighing 4879.9 gms. was found concealed in the die and hydraulic bottle jack. The estimated value of the gold on the date of seizure was Rs . 1.21 crore.

4. On investigation, it was revealed that the petitioner was handling courier parcels of ‘Balaji Engineering’, ‘Chamunda Enterprises’ and ‘Regent Engineering’, entities belonging to Shri Mansukhlal Dhanak, without obtaining proper authorisation from the consignee. It was also revealed during the investigation that the petitioner had cleared more than 250 consignments described as “hydraulic jacks, dies and bladeless fans” from the period April 2012 to October 2012. These 250 consignments belong to the above referred entities of Shri Mansukhlal Dhanak.

5. The respondents recorded the statements of Shri Mansukhlal Dhanak, Shri Mohan Naik and the employees of the petitioner. In the investigation, it was revealed that Shri Mansuklal Dhanak, through Shri Mohan Naik, engaged the petitioner for the clearance of imports since Shri Mohan Naik acted as an intermediary and knew Shri Mansuklal Dhanak and the petitioner. In the statements recorded it is admitted that these consignments were cleared from April to October by the petitioner and Shri Dhanak has made payments through illegal