GOVIND VENNANKOT CHANDRASEKHARAN vs ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS

Judgment text excerpt

$~63 * IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Date of Decision: 27th March, 2025 + W.P.(C) 2568/2025 & CM APPL. 12162/2025 GOVIND VENNANKOT CHANDRASEKHARAN .....Petitioner Through: Ms. Kavitha K.T., Mr. Subash K Chandhran, Mr. Sharat Gopal, Mr. Syam Krishnan K, Mr. Akash Awana and Meenal Pandagare, Advocates. versus ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS .....Respondent Through: Mr. Aditya Singla, SSC CBIC with Ms. Supriya Juneja and Ms. Arya Suresh Nair, Advocates. CORAM: JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUSTICE RAJNEESH KUMAR GUPTA Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral) 1. This hearing has been done through hybrid mode. 2. This petition has been filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India inter alia seeking setting aside of the impugned Order in Original dated 07th November, 2024 wherein the goods being one gold kada and two gold chains were confiscated and redemption was allowed subject to payment of Rs. 70,000/-. 3. The brief background of the present petition is that the Petitioner is an Indian Passport holder with a residency permit in United Arab Emirates (hereinafter ‘UAE’). He and his family live in UAE as he is employed there. The Petitioner travelled to India along with his family on 09th April, 2024 to attend a marriage in Kerala. They were crossing the Green Channel when they Signature Not Verified Signed By:NAMITA W.P.(C) 2568/2025 Page 1 of 6 DHYANI Signing Date:01.04.2025 18:59:10 were stopped by an Official of the Customs Department, and their personal gold ornaments were detained. Details of the same are as under: SL. DESCRIPTION AND NUMBER OF GROSS WEIGHT IN NO. GOODS GRAMS 1 ONE GOLD KADA 41 grams 2 TWO GOLD CHAINS 44 grams 4. It is the case of the Petitioner that the jewellery were his personal effects which he used to wear regularly and was carrying with him f