High Court To Dulquer Salman: Approach Customs For Seized Land Rover Defender
Operation Numkhor, a crackdown by Kerala’s customs authority, recently made big headlines after several vehicles were seized from prominent Malayalam actors and businessmen, for alleged connections with Bhutan-Kerala car smuggling. Actor-producer Dulquer Salmaan saw three of his vehicles get confiscated- a Land Rover and two Nissan Patrols. Soon after the seizure, the actor approached the Kerala High Court seeking the release of the Land Rover. Considering his plea, the Honourable High Court has now directed Dulquer Salmaan to approach the Customs authority seeking provisional release of the vehicle. This is, in fact, a great relief.
Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A, during the hearing, said that the investigation is still in its early stage, and the court would not thus intervene at this point in time. Salmaan can,however, approach the adjudicatory authority, which in this case is the Additional Commissioner of Customs, Kochi, seeking a provisional release of this vehicle. An application for this can be filed under Section 110A of the Customs Act.
For those who may be unaware, a ‘provisional release’ is a temporary return of seized goods to the owner, before arriving at the final decision or order, and in many cases, with the investigation still ongoing. For this, the owner will have to provide a bond and security, in most cases, a bank guarantee. It is the adjudicating authority and not the initial investigation officer who will have to grant provisional release.
A provisional release would enable seized goods to be used or taken care of by the owners till the investigation is finally completed. In this case, the actor will be able to take proper care of the vehicle and keep it in good shape. He had previously raised a concern of the Defender having to undergo compromised or improper maintenance at the Customs yard. These classic or vintage models can become extremely vulnerable if not taken care of properly. Dulquer is someone who keeps his classics pristine.
Circling back, the court also asked the authority to pass a ‘speaking order’ (one that explains why it was rejected and has details of the documents produced and the contentions raised) in the event of a refusal of provisional custody of the Land Rover. The authority should consider the application, hear the petitioner or his legal representative, and pass an appropriate order within one week.
The Defender here has been registered by various registering authorities for the past 20 years. This, the court said, should be taken into account while considering the actor’s application for provisional release.
In his writ petition, the actor claimed that he is the lawful owner of the Defender (which by the way, is a 2004 model) and stated that he had bought it from Aarpee Promoters Pvt. Ltd., doing all the transactions through proper banking channels.
He also said that he was provided with valid customs and registration documents at the time of purchase. The SUV’s documents show it to have originally been imported by New Delhi’s International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This is reportedly mentioned in the bill of entry and invoice issued by Land Rover and Ford, as well.
In the coming weeks, we hope to see how the Customs department reacts to his application and more importantly, if he gets to take his prized possession back home, again.
It was on September 23rd that two cars were seized from the actor, in a Customs raid, as part of Operation Numkhor. These included the Land Rover Defender Classic 110 and an older generation Patrol. The second Nissan was confiscated later. Officials collected documents and initiated a probe into these to find out if they had any links with the Bhutan- Kerala illegal car trade. As many as eight cars were seized from Amit Chakkalakkal, another actor. More vehicles were seized from various businessmen.
Initially, a Coimbatore-based racket was said to be the culprit in this. Later reports, however, pointed to the possible involvement of more people and syndicates operating in different cities and regions.
(With inputs from Live Law)