Case: Harivansh Lal Mehra Vs. State of Maharashtra

In order to examine the correctness of this finding, it is necessary to set out the material facts.3. In 1961, the appellant was working as a Senior Superintendent of Post Offices at Jaipur. On December 20, 1961 Goa was liberated by the Indian Army. Thereafter the appellant was deputed as a Special Duty Officer to Goa. He took charge in Goa on December 25. 1961. He assumed additional charge as Director of Posts and Telegraphs on May 11, 1962 and he held that office till August 11, 1962. Thereafter he went back to Jaipur. It is alleged that during the period of appellants stay in Goa, he made large purchases of certain luxury articles. Utilising his official position in the Posts and Telegraphs department he transmitted those articles to Bombay where he sold the same at profits. The prosecution relied in support of that charge on four different instances. Voluminous evidence was led in support of the prosecution case.

Reasoning: But it is not necessary to go into that evidence as in our opinion the charge under which the appellant was convicted is without any legalis force in this contention. Hence it is not necessary to the otherfore there is no room for the contention that Goa was not a part of India during the relevant time. It may be noted that according to the prosecution the `goods complained of were all sent from Goa to Bombay after March 27,statute or statutory rule was placed before the Court to show that any customs duty had been imposed on the goods transmitted from Goa to other parts of India after December 20, 1961. The only witness who spoke about the liability to pay customs duties on the goods in question is P. W. 56 Shaikh the Dy. Superintendent of Central Excise. According to him customs duty on those articles was leviable because of certain administrative instructions. But he refused to place those administrative instructions before the Court. He claimed privilege on the ground that they are confidential documents a strange claim. Stranger still is that the trial Court appears to have accepted that plea. No tax or duty can be levied or collected except by authority of law. Hence no customs duty was leviable on the basis of any administrative instruction. Every levy of customs duty or any other tax must be sanctioned by law. It is surprising that both the trial Court as well as the High Court were of the opinion that certain customs duties were leviable because of some administrative instructions. It appears that there was a notification issued in the year 1950 declaring Goa, to be a foreign territory and thus bringing the exports from that country to India within the purview of Land Customs Act. But that notification cannot continue to have a legal effect after Goa became a part of India. On becoming a part of India Goa ceased to be a foreign territory. The notification in question must have been issued under Section 5 of the Indian Tariff Act, 1934 as it stood in 1950 (that section has been repealed now).The notification under this section could have been issued only in respect of any territory outside India and not in respect of any part of India. That provision empowered the Government to declare any territory outside India as a foreign territory for the purposes of that provision. That provision did not empower the Government to declare any part of India as a foreign territory. But it gave power to the Central Government not to treat any territory outside India as a foreign territory for the purposes of that provision. To illustrate the position, the Central Government could not have declared either Delhi or Bombay as a foreign territory, but it could have treated Nepal or Bhutan as not a foreign territory for the purposes of that provision. Once Goa became part of India, the Government was incompetent to declare that territory as a foreign territory. Nor does it appear that any such declaration was made after December 20, 1961.8. Unfortunately the High Court allowed itself to be influenced by what it says the practical considerations. It is likely that there were considerable foreign goods in Goa which had been imported into that territory before it was liberated, may be even without paying customs duty and those goods were available for being transmitted to other parts of India. But this circumstance does not change the position In law, It is not necessary for us to consider whether after integration of Goa, the Government could have imposed any duty on the goods that were sent from Goa to other parts of India. Suffice it to say that our attention was not invited to any law imposing such duties. That being so, the conclusion that the appellant had utilised his official position to evade customs duty must fail.