The Delhi High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging two Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs’ (CBIC) circulars which mandate the compulsory disposal and sale of all gold ornaments or jewellery to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) within three months from the date of seizure.
The petitioner, Mr. Jatin Khurana, in his plea said that the circulars dated December 2021 and September 2022 were “arbitrary” and against the Customs Act, 1962 since they failed to differentiate between gold ornaments which had emotional value from other forms of gold. Mr. Khurana’s counsel also held that ornaments worth as as low as ₹50,000 could be seized and sold immediately, and added that the conversion of gold jewellery into gold bars and their consequent sale closed all doors for restitution, causing irreparable loss to the rightful owners. The plea also stated that the circulars failed to differentiate between ‘seized’ and ‘confiscated’ gold jewellery.
After hearing Mr. Khurana’s case, the court in its order dated November 24 dismissed the plea as “non-maintainable”, and said that Mr. Khurana is a “stranger” who has not been adversely affected by either of the two circulars, since none of his gold ornaments have been seized. The court added that any individual who owns gold jewellery or ornaments and travels by air is not “economically or socially backward” and can approach the Courts directly.
“...This Court is of the view that the present petition is not maintainable as it is a settled principle of law that an aggrieved person must approach the Court. The standing doctrine characteristic is that a potential litigant must be injured by the action it is challenging,” the court said.
