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Unit 9: Valuation of Custom Goods

11. .................................... is payable as a percentage of ‘Value’ often called ‘Assessable Value’ Notes
or ‘Customs Value’.

12. ........................................ in Customs Act has to be done as per Valuation Rules.

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Caselet Union of India v. Padam Narain Aggarwal 2008 (231)
ELT 397 (SC)

he respondent - Padam Narain Aggarwal filed an anticipatory bail in the sessions
court which dismissed it, but he later moved to the High Court which granted him
Tanticipatory bail with a direction to the authorities that he should not be arrested
without giving a ten days' prior notice to him. Revenue contended that the order passed
by the High Court was illegal and erroneous.

Supreme Court observed that power to arrest a person by a Custom Officer under section
104 of the Customs Act, 1962 is statutory in character and cannot be interfered with.
Supreme Court further noted that the law, on one hand, allows a Custom Officer to
exercise power to arrest a person who has committed certain offences, and on the other
hand, takes due care to ensure individual freedom by laying down norms and providing
safeguards so that the power of arrest is not abused or misused by the authorities. 'Blanket'
order of bail may amount to an invitation to commit an offence or a passport to carry on
criminal activities.
Supreme Court pronounced that on the facts and in the circumstances of the present case,
above directions could not be said to be legal or in consonance with law. Firstly, the order
passed by the High Court was a blanket one and granted protection to respondents in
respect of any non-bailable offence. Secondly, it illegally obstructed, interfered and
curtailed the authority of Custom Officers from exercising statutory power of arresting a
person said to have committed a non-bailable offence by imposing a condition of giving
ten days prior notice, a condition not warranted by law. Hence, the order granting the
anticipatory bail to the accused was set aside.
Note - Section 104 of the Customs Act, 1962 reads as under:-
If an officer of Customs empowered in this behalf by general or special order of the
Commissioner of Customs has reason to believe that any person in India or within the
Indian customs waters has committed an offence punishable under section 132 or section
133 or section 135 or section 135A or section 136, he may arrest such person and shall, as
soon as may be, inform him of the grounds for such arrest [Sub-section (1)]

Every person arrested under sub-section (1) shall, without unnecessary delay, be taken to
a magistrate [Sub-section (2)].
Where an officer of customs has arrested any person under sub-section (1), he shall, for the
purpose of releasing such person on bail or otherwise, have the same powers and be
subject to the same provisions as the officer-in-charge of a police-station has and is subject
to under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898) [Sub-section (3)].
Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898),
an offence under this Act shall not be cognizable [Sub-section (4)].
Source: http://220.227.161.86/20925frpubcd_bos1.pdf

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