IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT HYDERABAD FOR THE STATE OF TELANGANA & THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE TWENTY FIRST DAY OF NOVEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND FOURTEEN PRESENT THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR WRIT PETITION No.34397 of 2014 BETWEEN Md.Shafi AND ... PETITIONER The State of Telangana, Rep. by its Principal Secretary (Department of Revenue), A.P. Secretariat Building, Hyderabad and others.
...RESPONDENTS The Court made the following:
ORDER:
Heard.
2. By this writ petition, petitioner seeks release of the vehicle bearing No.AP 22V 8850. According to him, the said vehicle was wrongly seized on the ground that the goods were found to be contraband. The Deputy Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise, respondent No.2, by order, dated 01.10.2013, directed the Station House Officer to deposit the vehicle and the contraband, before the Additional District Judge’s Court, Mahabubnagar, who is having jurisdiction under NDPS Act. Petitioner states that in spite of the said direction, no action is taken by the Station House Officer and thereby, neither the Deputy Commissioner is able to exercise any powers nor the Station House Officer is releasing the vehicle.
3. The instructions received from the Prohibition and Excise Inspector and Station House Officer by the learned Government Pleader show that on 11.06.2013 at 01:30 PM the seizure has taken place and based on that, a case under Section 34 (a) of the A.P. Excise Act, 1968 was registered. It is also stated that the content of the goods contains Alprazolam, which attracts NDPS Act, and accordingly, Section 8(c) and 22 of NDPS Act are also added to the charges.
The goods and the vehicle were seized and the same were deposited before the Additional District Judge, Mahaboobnagar. However, learned Government Pleader was asked to get specific instructions as to whether the vehicle of the petitioner is also deposited before the Court. It is now confirmed by the learned Government Pleader that appropriate action is taken and all the seized goods including the vehicle is now in the custody of the learned Additional District Judge, Mahaboobnagar.
4. In view of that, the writ petition is disposed of giving liberty to the petitioner to move appropriate application before the said competent court, which deals with the application, and on such application being filed, the concerned court shall consider the same and pass appropriate orders expeditiously in accordance with law.
As a sequel, the miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed. There shall be no order as to costs.
VILAS V. AFZULPURKAR, J November 21, 2014 LMV