How does a competent authority come to know of illegally acquired properties of the detenues/ convicts held in their name or in the name of their relatives/associates etc.? The answer is provided in Sections 15,16,17, &18 of the SAFEM (FOP) Act, 1976. Section 16 gives power to the Competent Authorities to require any officer or authority of the Central Government, State Government or a local authority to furnish information in relation to such persons, points or matters, which in the opinion of the Competent Authority will be relevant to or useful for the purposes of this Act. The officers of the Income-tax, Customs & Central Excise Departments or any officer of the enforcement agencies appointed under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973, are duty bound to furnish relevant information suo-moto to the Competent Authority. Section 17 lays down that officers of Customs, Central Excise, Income-tax Department, Enforcement Directorate, Police and such other officers of the Central or State Government as may be notified in the official Gazette are empowered and required to assist the Competent Authority and the Appellate Tribunal. Section 18 gives power to the Competent Authority to get any enquiry or investigation or survey done, by the income-tax authorities.

Section 15 gives power of the Civil Court to the Competent Authority and the Appellate Tribunal in matters of summoning and enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath, requiring the discovery and production of documents, receiving evidence on affidavits, requisitioning any public record or copy thereof from any court or office, issuing commissions for examinations of witnesses or documents and any other matter, which may be prescribed. Thus, the Competent Authority and the Appellate Tribunal in these matters have all the powers of a Civil Court while trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.

The Competent Authority is not bound to accept the findings of the officers of the other department like Police, Customs and Income-Tax. Section 21 of the Act clearly provides that no finding of any officer or authority under any other law shall be conclusive for the purposes of any proceedings under this Act. Section 22 deals with mode of service of notice and orders. This shall be served by the registered post to the person or his agent or in case, that is not possible, the notice or order can be served by affixture.

Section 19 of the SAFEM (FOP) Act gives power to the Competent Authority to take possession of the property forfeited to the Central Government or of the property in respect of which fine has not been paid under section 9 within the time allowed. As a matter of practice, the District Magistrate is asked to take the possession of the forfeited property, which is subsequently sold by public auction arranged by the Income-Tax Department.

If a person is aggrieved by the order of the Competent Authority, he can file an appeal within 45 days of the receipt of the order to the Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited property, Lok Nayak Bhawan, 4th Floor, Khan Market, New Delhi. No authority other than the ATFP has the power to entertain any appeal against the order to of the Competent Authority. It has been clearly provided in section 14 of the Act that no order passed or declaration made under this Act shall be appealable except as provided therein and no Civil Court shall have jurisdiction in respect of any matter in which the Appellate Tribunal has jurisdiction and no injunction shall be granted by any court or other authority in respect of any action taken or to be taken in pursuance of any power conferred under this Act. The constitutional validity of the Act itself together with the COFEPOSA had been challenged, but a nine judges bench of the Supreme Count passed a historic decision on 12.5.1994 in the case of Attorney General for Indian etc. Vs. Amritlal Prajivan Das & others etc, upholding the constitutional validity of COFEPOSA and SAFEM (FOP) Acts (AIR 1994 SC 2179). It may also be worth noting in this connection that by virtue of the 38th & 40th Constitution Amendment Acts, both the COFEPOSA& SAFEMA Acts have been placed in the IXth Schedule to the Constitution of India. The Supreme Court also directed the High Courts and other authorities to dispose of the cases pending before them in the light of this judgment with all deliberate speed.