The Delhi High Court has termed “unsustainable in law” a decision of the Airport Customs Commissioner here to “hurriedly” auction over 3 kg of gold, without issuing notice to the person from whom it was seized.
A Bench of Justices S. Muralidhar and I.S. Mehta directed the authorities to refund the proceeds of the auction to the owner, a Kenyan national.
Zhinet Banu Nazir Dadany had moved the High Court seeking the return of 32 gold bars, weighing about 3.732 kg, which was seized by the Customs Authority on January 5, 2015, at the IGI International Airport, New Delhi.
She saidthe gold was meant to be used for making jewellery in India and then to take the jewellery back to Kenya to sell for profit. A jewellery appraiser had valued the gold bars at ₹93.34 lakh.