Once Goods Found Of Indian Origin, Customs Seizure Arbitrary And Malafide: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court at Lucknow has expressed surprise at the seizure and detention of areca nuts by the customs authority on the ground that they were of foreign origin despite one lab test indicating Indian origin and a government laboratory test failing to determine their origin.

The bench of Justice Shekhar B. Saraf and Justice Manjive Shukla was dealing with a batch of writ petitions involving seizure of the goods by customs authorities and held:

“In such a situation, when the goods have been identified as goods of Indian origin, the entire exercise of the customs authorities in seizing the goods and thereafter continuing to detain the said goods appears to be not just arbitrary but also malafide. It is astonishing to note that the goods were examined once again, that too, from a Government laboratory that could not ascertain the origin of the goods. Even after the second report has come to light, the authorities have continued to detain the goods without having any basis in law to do so.”

The consignment was seized on November 11, 2025, on the basis that it was of foreign origin and not fit for human consumption.

The samples were sent to the Arecanut Research and Development Foundation for testing, which reported that they resembled areca nuts of Indian origin. Unsatisfied with the report, the customs authorities sent the samples to the Central Revenue Control Laboratory, IARI, Hill Side Road, Pusa Campus, New Delhi for further testing.

The second report stated that the nuts were fit for human consumption but the country of origin could not be determined due to want of testing facility.

The petitioner-traders challenged the seizure and detention on the ground that the first testing facility indicated Indian origin and the second report did not establish them to be of foreign origin.

Relying on its earlier judgment, the Court held that seizure must be based on objective material giving rise to a reason to believe that the goods were of foreign origin.

“In the present case, the authorities have not been able to indicate any such reason to believe. Neither have they been able to provide a basis of the seizure nor have they been able to confirm the origin of the goods as foreign in nature upon subsequent testing. In fact the records clearly show that the first laboratory report clearly indicated that the goods were of Indian origin.”

Holding that there was no material to support the detention and that the laboratory reports did not establish foreign origin, the Court quashed the seizure orders and directed that the goods be released within one week.

Accordingly, the writ petitions were disposed of.