Foreigners either wearing or carrying gold/silver ornaments worth over ₹50,000 must necessarily declare them to the officials concerned under the Customs Baggage Declaration Regulations, 2013, read with the Baggage Rules, 2016, and cannot expect to walk out of the airport through the green channel, the Madras High Court has held.
Justice C. Saravanan passed the ruling while dismissing a writ petition filed by a Sri Lankan family in 2021 seeking refund of the fine and penalty imposed on it. The family, comprising a couple, their two children, aged parents and a paternal aunt, had worn 1,594 kg of gold jewellery when they landed at Chennai airport on May 6, 2017.
Apart from the jewellery, the family had also bought 112 bottles of liquor from a duty-free shop and attempted to walk through the green channel without making a declaration. Therefore, the judge agreed with advocate M. Santhanaraman, representing the Customs, that the petitioners were liable to punishment.
“One fails to understand how the petitioners, who claim to be pilgrims, would visit an alien country wearing such costly jewellery, even if it was their custom. The fact that the petitioners also purchased 112 bottles of liquor and attempted to walk though the green channel also shows that the visit to India was not purely for pilgrimage,” the judge wrote.
Though it was argued on behalf of the petitioners that the Kerala High Court in 2014 had held that foreigners could not be penalised for wearing gold jewellery, Justice Saravanan differentiated the verdict and pointed out that it was passed based on the Baggage Rules, 1998 whereas they had been replaced by new rules in 2016.
“Import of gold or silver ornaments exceeding ₹50,000 cannot be considered as part of bonafide baggage of a tourist travelling to India. The petitioners should have paid customs duty if they intended to deliver, sell or gift the jewels to a person in India. On the other hand, if they intended to retain them, they should have requested for safe custody,” the judge said.
He pointed out that Section 80 of the Customs Act of 1962 permits temporary detention of baggage. If the baggage of a passenger contains any dutiable article, which had been declared, the passenger could request the officer concerned to keep it in safe custody and return it when the passenger leaves the country.
