Amidst the hunt for contraband gold, the Customs, Central Excise and the DRI authorities of the state have begun procedures for the pre-trial disposal of seized bullion and gold ornaments.
The agencies are acting on the basis of strict instructions given by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) to draw the revenue from the seized goods within the current fiscal itself citing depreciation in its value with the passage of time.
Customs and Central Excise Commissioner Dr. K N Raghavan told ‘Express’ that the papers for pre-trial disposal will be submitted before the court shortly.
Since the crackdown on gold smuggling following the restrictions in import and hike in duty, the Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode formations of Customs and Central Excise Commissionerate and the Customs Preventive Commissionerate have so far seized close to 90 kilograms of gold in bullion form and around 60 kilogram of gold ornaments in various cases. The total quantity of gold seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) comes around 40 kilograms. Overall, in money terms, the pre-trial disposal will add roughly around `57 crore to the CBEC’s exchequer.
“The pre-trial disposal is done under the Section 110 of the Customs Act. The seized goods in each case will be produced before the court separately and the magistrate will carry out the inventory.
After getting the certification from the court, the gold will be sold to nominated agencies. Samples of goods, which are also certified by the magistrate, will be kept for the purpose of the case if required,” Raghavan said.
As per rules, if the verdict of the case is in favour of the accused, the latter will be paid the certified value of the goods then. Normally, the perishable goods seized by these agencies are disposed off through e-auction when required.
In case of other goods, disposal has been carried out after the completion of legal proceedings. However, according to officials, this may take several years as similar cases registered during 1996 are still pending with the court.
According to sources, a recent high level meeting of the DRI officials convened by the Additional Director General also emphasised on pre-trial disposal of gold seizures.
Besides gold, the CBEC has given instructions to dispose off the silver bars and ornaments seized so far in various that comes around 140 kg.