'Cannot Be Forced To Repeatedly Approach Court': Delhi HC Orders Release Of Iran National's Jewellery Confiscated By Customs Almost 3 Yrs Ago

The Delhi High Court ordered the Customs Department to release the silver-coated gold chains of an Iranian national, which were confiscated on his arrival in India almost three years ago.A division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Rajneesh Kumar Gupta noted that the prescribed period of six months for issuance of a Show Cause Notice had already elapsed.Further, no personal hearing was granted to the Petitioner, who sought the release of his jewelry, and no final order was served on him till date.“After the passing of an order by the Division Bench in the earlier writ petition, the Customs department had an obligation to ensure that the order-in-original is served or intimated to the Petitioner. There has been no compliance of the direction passed by this Court. 8. Under such circumstances, the Petitioner cannot be forced to repeatedly approach the Court to even obtain a copy of the order,” it said.The bench was referring to an October 2024 order whereby the High Court had directed the Department to forward to the petitioner a copy of any order that may have been passed in connection with his jewellery.The Petitioner had arrived in India on May 7, 2022 when his jewelry was seized. Following this, the Petitioner visited the Customs Office where appraisement was done. However, Petitioner alleged that a final order came to be passed against him without issuing a Show Cause Notice.Court thus found it is a fit case for directing the release of goods and quashed the detention. It ordered,“The goods shall be released to the Petitioner. Warehouse charges shall be waived. In case the goods are disposed of, the market value of the detained goods, as per the market rate prevalent today shall be paid to the Petitioner within a period of four weeks. If the same is paid in four weeks, no interest would be payable. If the same is not paid, interest at the statutory rate would be payable from date of detention.”Appearance: Mr. Mohammed Ather Ansari, Adv. for Petitioner; Mr. Harpreet Singh, SSC for RespondentCase title: Amirhossein Alizadeh v. The Commissioner Of Customs & Ors.Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 316Case no.: W.P.(C) 3002/2025Click here to read order

'Cannot Be Forced To Repeatedly Approach Court': Delhi HC Orders Release Of Iran National's Jewellery Confiscated By Customs Almost 3 Yrs Ago

Kapil Dhyani

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