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684 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 372

writ petition has been allowed and confiscation of eleven gold biscuits from the
writ petitioner and the consequent penalty annulled.
2. Sometime early in November, 1994, the writ petitioner was appre-
hended outside his shop in Bowbazar with eleven gold biscuits. The seizure list,
a copy whereof appears at pages 78 to 80 of the appeal papers, reveals the total
weight of the seized material to be 1283.650g. There was one piece which
weighed 116.52g. and all the other pieces weighed, at least, 116.67g. The biggest
one weighed 116.77g.
3. Immediately upon the seizure of the goods, a statement was ob-
tained by the Customs authorities from the writ petitioner. However, it is not
necessary to go into such statement, as the petitioner claimed at the foot of such
statement that the statement was recorded without the consent of the writ peti-
tioner. Subsequent undisputed statements were made by the writ petitioner un-
der Section 108 of the Customs Act, 1962. The essence of such statements and the
defence spun by the writ petitioner were summarised in the order of adjudica-
tion and in the appellate order of the Tribunal.
4. According to the writ petitioner, the gold that was seized from the
petitioner’s person came from a corresponding purchase made by the writ peti-
tioner sometime in February, 1993 from one G. Seal & Co. The representatives of
such supplier were also apparently interrogated by the Customs authorities. The
supplier corroborated the transaction. The writ petitioner produced a copy of a
bill dated February 20, 1993. The description of the goods in the bill reveals ten
biscuits weighing ten tola each of 99.90 per cent purity having been sold bearing
a gross weight of 1166.36g.
5. The order, dated August 29, 2002, that was passed by the Customs,
Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal [2003 (152) E.L.T. 201 (Tri.-Kol.)]
was assailed by way of the present proceedings in this Court. The relevant order
of the Tribunal recorded that upon the writ petitioner producing the bill, he was
required to produce the registers maintained by him and the writ petitioner pro-
duced some of such registers. The Tribunal recorded that the closing stock as at
March 27, 1993, as evident from the stock register, was 1192.22g. and no transac-
tion had been effected thereafter. Elsewhere in the Tribunal’s order, there is a
reference to other records being sought from the writ petitioner, but the writ pe-
titioner cited health grounds to delay the hearing and, ultimately, to not produce
the records.
6. Thus, what is evident from the facts is that upon the writ petitioner
being found with eleven gold biscuits suspected to be of foreign origin in late
November, 1994, he cited a bill of February, 1993 as being the source of such
gold. For one, it is inconceivable that ten gold biscuits could have metamor-
phosed to eleven without them being melted. It is equally inconceivable that any
of the ten gold biscuits laid a golden egg for the total weight to increase from
1166g to 1283g.
7. It is possible that the bullion which is obtained by a trader is melted
and different items produced, including biscuits of a lesser size; but it is incon-
ceivable that when the source of the material was cited to be ten biscuits, each
weighing 116.6g, any miraculous process would spin out eleven biscuits each
weighing more than 116.6g. If the defence was that the gold obtained from G.
Seal & Co. was melted and, in the usual course, the writ petitioner must have
had some gold in his possession, the explanation may have been acceptable.
However, it was never the writ petitioner’s case that the gold biscuits obtained
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