Baggage Rules Should Be Reviewed To Prevent Harassment Of Genuine Air Travellers Carrying Gold Jewellery To Attend Weddings: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court has urged the Central government as well as the Customs department to review the Baggage Rules, 2016 which regulate the amount of gold or gold jewellery that can be carried by a person travelling to India by air.

A division bench of Justices Prathiba M. Singh and Dharmesh Sharma observed,

“While, there is no doubt that any illegal smuggling of gold deserves to be curbed, at the same time, bona-fidely and genuine tourists/travellers, including people from Indian Origin such as the OCI Cardholders, PIOs etc., could be travelling for social engagements in India or social events such as marriages etc., with gold, which could be of a much higher value than the permissible limits.

Such tourists and travellers ought not to be expected to file detailed declarations, which could make the entire process of entering India and exiting from airports extremely unfriendly or onerous.”

The Court also observed that the value of gold allowed under the Rules is not in consonance with the current market rate of gold, thereby creating an anomaly.

Currently, the Rules permit any jewellery of 20 grams with a value cap of Rs. 50,000/- in case of a man and 40 grams with a value cap of Rs. 1,00,000/- in case of a woman to be cleared free of duty. It said,

“the market rate of gold at present, where forty grams of gold would be costing much more the value cap of Rs. 1,00,000/- prescribed under Rule 5 of Baggage Rules. With the maximum limit of Rs.1,00,000/-, the gold that could be purchased may only be around 15 grams.”

The development comes in a petition challenging the order of the Joint Commissioner of Customs, confiscating two gold kadas and one gold chain of the Petitioner.

The Court remarked that often, even small quantities of jewellery is seized by the Customs Department if the passenger is walking through the green channel. The reason, the Court contemplated, is that passenger obligations under the Baggage Rules are not duly clarified to travellers visiting India.

The Court has issued notices to the Union of India and the Customs Department, and sought their response within four weeks.

Meanwhile, it has expressed that Baggage Rules should be re-looked and a policy decision ought to be taken by the Government (i) to ensure that there is no harassment of genuine tourists and travellers, whether Indian or foreigners into India; (ii) that illegal smuggling of gold is properly curbed.

Appearance: Mr. Ashish Panday, Adv. for Petitioner; Mr. Jagdish Chandra, CGSC-UOI with Mr. Shubham Kumar Mishra, Adv. for R-1/UOI; Mr. Shubham Tyagi, SSC-CBIC with Mr. Sunil Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Sunil Kumar, ACS, Mr. Mratyunjay Singh Chauhan, ASC Mr. Harpreet Singh, Sr. Standing Counsel along with Ms. Suhani Mathur and Mr. Shivang Chawla, Advs. for Customs Department

Case title: Qamar Jahan v. Union Of India, Represented By Secretary, Ministry Of Finance & Ors.

Case no.: W.P.(C) 198/2025

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