No immediate criminal proceedings against smugglers a 'Diwali gift': Congress

New Delhi: Congress on Thursday alleged that Modi government has given a "Diwali bonanza" to big smugglers caught with huge contraband by coming out with a notification that does away with initiating immediate criminal proceedings against the person concerned.

In the notification, it has been said that criminal proceedings should be started after departmental inquiry which should be completed within six months, party spokesman Shaktisinh Gohil told reporters.

He said as per section 135 of Customs Act there is provision of criminal proceedings and departmental action as soon as a person is caught smuggling huge amount of contraband.

"But recently, the Modi government through a circular 27/2015 Customs dated 23/10/2015 made a provision of no immediate criminal case against smuggling of precious metals like gold, items prohibited under section 11 and 123 and foreign currency whose value is more than Rs 20 lakh," he

said.

Claiming that the circular was against Customs Act and would bankrupt economy, he said, the move was like ushering in 'Achchhe Din' for big smugglers.

"This is a ploy so that smugglers don't have to remain in jail. Now, once 60 day period is over, smuggler gets bail by default. This provision cripples authorities," he alleged.

He said the erstwhile UPA government had made smuggling a non-bailable offence for stern action against the smugglers while BJP government was giving an "open field" to them.

Besides, he said, Modi government has come out with the circular despite the fact that the Supreme Court has made it clear in the case of Radheshyam Kejriwal that departmental inquiry and criminal proceedings can be done simultaneously.

It had held that to file criminal case it was not necessary that departmental inquiry should be completed first. Departmental inquiry and criminal case are independent of each other, it had observed.

Gohil's charge came on a day when the Prime Minister launched three ambitious schemes to reduce the physical demand for gold and fish out 20,000 tonnes of the precious metal worth USD 800 billion lying idle with households.

When asked as to how could he make such a charge against the Prime Minister of helping smugglers on a day when he came out with three ambitious schemes, Gohil, a known detractor of the Prime Minister, remarked that Modi excels in projecting one thing, but doing something very opposite.