Reopening of duty-free shop: Centre moves Kerala HC against Single Judge order

KOCHI: The Union Government on Wednesday approached the Kerala High Court seeking to quash the Single Judge order allowing the reopening of duty-free shop and warehouse at the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport. The court will consider the case on Thursday. Terming the Single Judge order a ‘grave error’, the Centre submitted the judge had observed the investigation into the alleged fraud by the CEO of Plus Max Duty Free (Pvt) Ltd was on from December 2017; that there was an inordinate delay and there were no materials to pass an order for suspension.  “Without providing the Centre an opportunity, the Single Judge could not have come to such a conclusion. The Customs Department had issued the orders suspending the licence after being satisfied there was prima facie violation of law and licence conditions,” the Centre submitted. 

It also said the Single Judge “shouldn’t have got carried away” by the submission of the Airports Authority of India that it incurred losses due to the licence’s suspension. “The Single Judge ought to have taken into account the larger issue of Customs duty evasion and threat to the national security posed by the company’s illegal activities.

There was a Customs duty evasion of at least Rs 6 crore in the first three months of operations and the company did not cooperate with the Customs Department for finalising statutory proceedings,” the Centre said. “The company suppressed material and documents on the pretext their computer system was hacked. However, the examination by the C-DAC found this never happened. At this stage, the Single Judge committed a grave error in permitting the company to operate their duty-free shop,” it submitted.

Customs SP seeks anticipatory bail
Kochi:Customs SP Luke K George on Wednesday moved the High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the case related to the alleged illegal sale of liquor by a duty-free shop in the Tvm International Airport. George filed the plea after he was issued a summons by the Customs wing. The prosecution submitted the company, which had a contract with the authority concerned to run the retail duty-free shop, engaged in smuggling foreign liquor from the airport to the local market, in violation of the Customs Act. The petitioner submitted he was not connected to the crime in any way, but was being targeted by his fellow officers. There were media reports he would be arrested. The court will consider the case on Thursday.