CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has stayed the operation of a single judge’s order that declared a provision of Baggage Rules ultra vires to a provision of Customs Act regarding jewellery worn on the person and the judge’s direction to take action against the Air Customs officers who seized gold ornaments including the nuptial thread (thaali) of a Sri Lankan national on arrival at the Chennai Airport.
However, a division bench consisting of Justices S S Sundar and C Saravanan directed the Customs department to return the seized jewellery after obtaining security or bond or personal guarantee from the passengers concerned.
The orders were issued on the appeals filed by the Principal Commissioner of Customs, Chennai, challenging the January 31, 2025 order of the single judge (Justice Krishnan Ramasamy).
The single judge had declared ultra vires the Baggage Rules and ordered release of the gold ornaments, apart from directing the DoPT of the union government to take appropriate action against the seizing officer for alleged excesses.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) A R L Sundaresan assisted by senior standing counsel M Santhanaraman, appearing for the Principal Commissioner of Customs, submitted that the single judge failed to consider all the facts of the case. He contended that the single judge had failed to appreciate that used personal items do not include gold in any form under the Baggage Rules, 2016, and got carried away by the sentiment that the respondent was wearing in the form of thaali.
“If this view is accepted, unscrupulous passengers would brandish all the smuggled gold on their person and there would be no meaning in curtaining gold imports through law. It would render the existing legal machinery nugatory which cannot be the intention of the government,” the ASG said.