Law: Customs Act 1969

Section: 179

  Customs Act (IV of 1969)  S. 179, proviso read with Ss. 3, 5 & 6-Contention that proviso to S. 179 did not relate to officers mentioned in section but to officers of Provincial and Federal Governments who might be empowered under S. 6-Difficult to accept that proviso to a section should not apply to section to which it is attached but to a. totally different section - Proviso to S. 179-Does not render S. 5 nugatory.--Section 5 deals with upgrading generally of officers while S. 179 deals exclusively with judicial duties of officers-Functions of Customs Officers include many functions other than powers of adjudication conferred by S. 179- Words "any particular officer" and "classes of officers" in proviso to S. 179, held, wide enough to refer to officers specified in various clauses of section.                                                                                                                  ORDER DORAB PATEL, J.-On the 22nd of April, 1975 the respondent issued a notice to the petitioner calling upon him to show cause why action should not be taken against him with regard to a charge for the smuggling of watcbe3. The petition has come up for admission before us on several dates, and Mr. Azizullah Sheikh has repeatedly affirmed before us that he only challenged the legality of this notice on the basis of the proviso to section 179 of the Customs Act, 1969, therefore, it is not necessary for us to go into the facts of the case and we will only examine the legal arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioner and by Mr. Naimuddin, Standing Counsel for the State, who appeared on our notice to him to assist us. 2. Section 179 of the Customs Act, 1969 to which we would refer as the said Act, reads as follows :- "179. Power of adjudication.-In cases involving confiscation of goods or imposition of penalty under this Act,…