Calcutta High Court — challenge to Customs withholding e-cigarette imports (2014)
A commercial importer challenged Customs' decision to withhold its e-cigarette consignment at Kolkata Airport. Customs had held the goods until the consignee obtained an opinion from the Drugs Controller, which was adverse, but conceded it had no instructions to stop such imports and that they were being cleared at other ports. This is the oldest matter on this page, decided more than four years before the national ban.
Outcome: Decided in the importer's favour on 13 February 2015: the court found that no provision of law had been cited restricting e-cigarette imports and ordered the withheld consignment released within a fortnight, without demurrage.
The petition was dismissed for default on 4 February 2015 and restored on 13 February 2015, when the court heard it at once. Customs filed an affidavit showing that e-cigarettes and their parts were still being imported at other ports as late as December 2014, and the Solicitor-General’s office reported that the Union government had taken no clear stand.
The court held that the Drugs Controller’s opinion was “only one factor that the Union Government may consider as a matter of policy”. Since no provision of law had been cited for restraining the import, it set aside the decision to withhold the consignment.
This is a seller-brought case, clearly distinct from AVI: it was filed and argued by the importer, not by AVI. AVI is a consumer advocacy organisation and does not fund, file or direct litigation on behalf of importers or vendors. Where this case drew on research or arguments AVI has separately developed and published, that reflects publicly available analysis, not coordination between AVI and the litigant.