Customs to auction off seized gold

MUMBAI, November 20: The Mumbai Customs (Preventive) has been authorised by the Central Board of Customs and Excise (CBCE) to conduct aucti...

MUMBAI, November 20: The Mumbai Customs (Preventive) has been authorised by the Central Board of Customs and Excise (CBCE) to conduct auctions of gold jewellery, diamonds, precious stones and studded jewellery seized by the various commissionerates in the country.

Said Customs Commissioner (Preventive) S S Sekhon, the auctions will be held in Mumbai before the end of the year (1997) and authorised auctioneers would be conducting the auctions.

An entry fee of Rs one lakh would be charged to bidders so as to eliminate non-serious parties from the auction, Sekhon said. Additional commissioner T H K Ghauri said the Bombay Customs House alone had stocks of seized gold jewellery, diamonds, etc worth nearly Rs 40 crore. One government approved valuer and one representative of the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council would be on the appraisal committee which will fix the reserve price for different units of items. Sekhon said the department expected to collect about Rs 50 crore from the auction, being conducted after about 30 years.