Custom Act, 1962
110.
Seizure of Goods, Documents and Things. –
(1)
If the proper officer has reason to believe that any goods are liable to confiscation
under this Act, he may seize such goods :
Provided
that where it is not practicable to
seize any such goods, the proper officer may serve on the owner of the goods an
order that he shall not remove, part with, or otherwise deal with the goods except
with the previous permission of such officer.
(1A)
The Central Government may, having regard to the perishable or hazardous nature
of any goods, depreciation in the value of the goods with the passage of time,
constraints of storage space for the goods or any other relevant
considerations, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify the goods or
class of goods which shall, as soon as may be after its seizure under
sub-section (1), be disposed of by the proper officer in such manner as the Central
Government may, from time to time, determine after following the procedure
hereinafter specified.
(1B)
Where any goods, being goods specified under sub-section (1A), have been seized
by a proper officer under sub-section (1), he shall prepare an inventory of
such goods containing such details relating to their description, quality,
quantity, mark, numbers, country of origin and other particulars as the proper
officer may consider relevant to the identity of the goods in any proceedings
under this Act and shall make an application to a Magistrate for the purpose of
- (a) certifying the correctness of the inventory so prepared; or
(b)
taking, in the presence of the Magistrate, photographs of such goods, and
certifying such photographs as true; or
(c)
allowing to draw representative samples of such goods, in the presence of the
Magistrate, and certifying the correctness of any list of samples so drawn.
(1C)
Where an application is made under sub-section (1B), the Magistrate shall, as
soon as may be, allow the application.
(2)
Where any goods are seized under sub-section (1) and no notice in respect
thereof is given under clause (a) of section 124 within six months of the
seizure of the goods, the goods shall be returned to the person from whose possession
they were seized :
Provided
that the aforesaid period of six months
may, on sufficient cause being shown, be extended by the Commissioner of
Customs for a period not exceeding six months.
(3)
The proper officer may seize any documents or things which, in his opinion,
will be useful for, or relevant to, any proceeding under this Act.
(4)
The person from whose custody any documents are seized under sub-section (3)
shall be entitled to make copies thereof or take extracts there from in the
presence of an officer of customs.