Abdul Cader Mohammed Munsoor vs Hon. Attorney General – CA [PHC] NO.02/2011-2015

In the case between Abdul Cader Mohammed Munsoor (Claimant-Petitioner-Appellant) and the Hon. Attorney General and Officer-In-Charge, Police Station, Fort (Respondent-Respondents), the court addressed whether confiscation of goods under Section 26 of the Excise (Special Provisions) Act No.13 of 1989 may be effected without affording a claimant (not an accused in the underlying criminal proceedings) an opportunity to show cause against such confiscation. It was held that statutory confiscation of property alleged to belong to persons not party to a conviction under the Act cannot proceed without giving those persons a right to be heard, reaffirming the principle that audi alteram partem (the right to be heard) applies unless expressly excluded by statute. Reliance was placed on Section 26,