Jurisprudentiol– Tomorrow's cases

By Vijay Kumar

Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.Customs

Arrest under Customs Act – offence being bailable , accused has a right for bail – Court cannot impose condition of surrender of passport or bar on foreign travel – Bail has to be given even if he is not able to give surety: Bombay High Court

The position of the law is that a person who is alleged to have committed a bailable offence has an unfettered and absolute right to be enlarged on bail and the Court or the Police Officer concerned, as the case may be, has no discretion to grant or refuse bail.

The condition of requiring a person accused of a bailable offence to surrender his passport to the Court is not a term as to bail. If in such a case a condition is imposed that bail is granted subject to condition of deposit of passport, such a condition will defeat the absolute right of the accused under section 436(1) of the said Code to be set at liberty. In the circumstances, while enlarging the Petitioner on bail in a bailable offence, the Magistrate has no jurisdiction to direct deposit of the passport. The Magistrate cannot impose a condition while granting bail in a bailable offence of not leaving India without the permission of the Court.

Income Tax

Search - Disclosure statements recorded u/s 132(4) - Additions made merely on basis of admission of assessee, later retracted, not sustainable unless Revenue gets corroborative evidence for the same: Gujarat High Court

If a statement is recorded at odd hour, and it is subsequently retracted and some evidence is produced contrary to such admission, then there is no reason not to disbelieve the retraction. But if supporting evidence is not collected by the Revenue, additions cannot be made merely on the basis of statements recorded during the search.

CESTAT

CESTAT order carries no date – is it valid?

Rule 26 of the CESTAT Procedure Rules, 1982 is reproduced below:

“RULE 26. Every order of the Tribunal shall be in writing and shall be signed and dated by the Members constituting the Bench concerned. Last date of hearing of the matter shall be typed on the first page of the order. If the order is dictated on the Bench, the date of dictation will be the date of the final order. If the order is reserved, the date of final order will be the date on which the order is pronounced.

In cases, where gist of the decision is pronounced without the detailed order, the last para of the detailed order shall specify the date on which the gist of the decision was pronounced. In such cases, the date of the final order shall be the date on which all the Members of the Bench sign the order. If they sign on different dates, the last of the dates will be the date of the order”.

It is a universally known fact that the Tribunals are clogged with cases and there is no sign of any let up in this regard, with a majority of the cases at the lower levels invariably reaching the Tribunals for redressal and relief. While the Members are busy disposing of tonnes of cases on a daily basis by passing final orders, stay orders and miscellaneous orders, it becomes the responsibility of the Tribunal's registry to keep track of the numbering / date of final orders without messing it up. We hope that this will be sorted out by the Tribunal in future.

Central Excise

When the Revenue has accepted the order of the Tribunal in respect of one party, on the same set of facts, appeal against another party cannot be allowed – Supreme Court

As the Revenue had accepted the decision in the case of Bata India Ltd. arising from the same order of the authority in original and there being no change on facts the appeal against the respondent could not be proceeded with. We are also in agreement with the view taken by the Tribunal that Revenue was not justified in invoking the extended period of limitation. The appeal is dismissed.

Behind every man who achieves success, stands a mother, a wife and the IRS

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