Appellate Tribunal

The Appellate Tribunal was originally constituted as the ‘Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property’ (ATFP) in 1977 under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976 (SAFEMA). As such, it is one of the earliest tribunals in the country. The SAFEMA applies to the persons convicted under the Sea Customs Act, 1878 or the Customs Act, 1962, the erstwhile Foreign Exchange Regulations Act, 1947 (FERA) and the FERA, 1973, and to those detained under COFEPOSA whose detention orders were neither revoked by the Government nor set aside or quashed by the courts of competent jurisdiction, subject to the conditions specified in Section 2 of the Act. The Act is directed towards forfeiture of illegally acquired properties of such persons. Relatives and associates of such persons are also brought into the ambit of the Act in order to ensure that the illegally acquired properties belonging to the convicts/ detenus to whom the Act applies, which are held in their names of their relatives or associates do not escape the net.