In a major reprieve for a cancer survivor, the Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the customs authorities to hand over to him, a consignment of feeding tubes, within 24 hours. The consignment was seized by the customs on arrival from United States of America (USA).
A bench of Justices Shahrukh Kathawalla and Nitin Borkar was seized with a plea filed by Samir Patel, a resident of Vadodara.
Patel, a survivor of mouth cancer, relied on feeding tubes as he was unable to consume food and nutrients directly.
On Wednesday, when the matter was first heard, the judges had sought to know from the customs as to why did they seize the four boxes of Osmolite Nutrio N-Food for Tube Feeding Patient - feeding tubes.
Having been summoned, Anil Singh, the additional solicitor general appeared for the customs authorities on Thursday and assured the bench that the seized consignment would be handed over subject to the courier service - DHL Express Pvt Ltd submitting the requisite documents.
"Even Patel will have to fill in the requisite form, undertaking that the consignment would be used for his personal purpose alone and not for any commercial use. Once the documentations are done, the product would be handed over," ASG Singh told the bench.
The judges, while accepting his statement, ordered Patel and also DHL to submit the documents at the earliest and further ordered the customs to hand over the feeding tube within 24 hours.
