9911796707
TMI Blog2022 (10) TMI 1020X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5, 15646, 15647, 15651, 15653, 15654, 15655, 15657, 15659, 15661, 15663, 15664, 16801, 16802, 16806, 16809, 16905, 16911, 16912, 16916, 16917, 16920, 16923, 16922, 16940, 16942, 16947, 22682, 22691, 22693, 22695, 22697, 22703, 22706, 22709, 22713, 22716, 22721, 22723, 22725, 22736, 22741, 22743, 22745, 22757, 22759, 22761, 22763, 22767, 22768, 22772, 22775, 30796, 30798, 30802, 30805, 25119, 25124, 34441, 34440,34443, 34444, 34447, 34450, 34446, 34448, 34451, 34452, 34454, 34455, 34456, 34459, 34457, 34458, 34460, 34463, 34461, 34462, 34468, 34469, 34466, 34467, 34470, 34474, 34471, 34472, 34473, 34475, 34476, 34479, 34489, 34493, 34480, 34481, 34485, 34486, 34490, 34495, 34487, 34488, 34491, 34494, 34500, 34503, 34501, 34502, 34504 and 34505 of 2019 and W.M.P. Nos.517, 8802 and 8803 of 2021 W.P.No.33896 of 2019: THE HONOURABLE D R. JUSTICE ANITA SUMANTH For the Petitioner : Mr. Mukund Rao Mr. P. Giridharan Mr. S. Venkata Subramaniyan For the Respondents : Mr. A. P. Srinivas Mr.Umesh Rao K. Mr. Pramod Kumar Chopda Senior Standing Counsels ORDER All petitioners before me are vessel operators. The petitioners in one batch challenge orders-in-original levying penalty on the gr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (MBL) and in turn a Bill of Lading is issued by the Consolidator to the individual shippers whose cargo has been stuffed in that container. (vi) This procedure is not a statutorily recognised procedure, but one that has withstood the test of time. (vii) Under Section 50 of the Act, the exporter is required to file a shipping bill for obtaining customs clearance for shipping and in terms of Section 41, the Carrier is required to furnish a declaration of all goods loaded upon a Vessel in a prescribed form. This comprises the EGM. (viii) Since we are, in these Writ Petitions, concerned with compliance or otherwise with the provisions of Section 41, the same is extracted in full below: "Section 41. Delivery of export manifest or export report - (1) The person-in-charge of a conveyance carrying export goods shall, before departure of the conveyance from a customs station, deliver to the proper officer in the case of a vessel or aircraft, an export manifest by presenting electronically, and in the case of a vehicle, an export report, in the prescribed form: [Provided that the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs may, in cases where it is not feasible to de ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ave, upon receipt of the show cause notices, rectified the errors ensuring that the defective EGMs were rectified, by including full details of the shipping bills. 5. The arguments of the petitioners as against the issuance of show cause notices are that the show cause notices are themselves belated, seeing as in all cases, they have been issued close to or more than 2 years from date of the admitted lapse. That apart, the stuffing has been done at a Container Freight Station (CFS) or an Inland Container Terminal (ICD), which is a customs bonded area, by the consolidator under the supervision of customs officials. 6. The petitioners thus argue that since ICEGATE system contains all shipping bills as well as the stuffing report containing minute details of the contents of each container, the responsibility for ensuring the integrity of the container must not rest entirely upon them. Alternatively, they must be afforded access to the ICEGATE system to enable a cross-verification of the input from the other parties. 7. They argue that if only they were furnished access to the ICEGATE system, such errors would not occur, since a minute comparison of each of the shipping bills with t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... same to the Shipping Liner/Steamer Agent immediately. The steamer agent has to file the EGM for all the shipping bills that are stuffed in the subject container on the basis of the tally sheets within the stipulated time period, in terms of Section 41 of the Customs Act, 1962. c) The Shipping Line, 'Steamer Agent may contact the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of the concerned CFS in case there is any difficulty in getting the tally sheet from the CFS. d) The Deputy/Assistant Commissioner in charge of the respective CFS/ICD has to ensure that the above procedure is followed by the CFS/ICD Custodian. 10. In Circular No.1/2019 - Customs F.No.450/119/2017-Cus-IV dated 02.01.2019, the Board dealt with resolution of various errors that have crept into the question of IGST export refund. The issue of non-filing/late filing of online local and gateway EGM has been dealt with at paragraph 2 along with a suggested method for resolution of such errors. F.No.450/119/2017-Cus-IV Government of India Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) ***** Room No.227B, North Block, New Delhi Dated 2nd January, 2019. To All Prin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r the activity of timely filing of the EGM and take necessary steps to ensure the same. (iv) Board expects its jurisdictional officers to take all necessary steps to ensure that all EGMs of cargo related to past cases are filed before 31 January 2019. As a measure of facilitation, penal provisions may not be invoked for EGMS filed till 31st January. 2019. However, continued non-compliance beyond 1" February, 2019 may be dealt strictly by taking recourse to penal provisions in accordance with the law." 3. Mismatch in Local and Gateway EGM: ........ (v) Customs officers in charge of CFSs shall provide list of Shipping Bills having SB006 error i.e EGM errors to the concerned CFSs at gateway ports. The custodians shall in turn provide details as mentioned in Tally Sheets or CDP/CLP (containing container details) relating to the said SBs to the Customs officers. Simultaneously, Gateway port officers shall coordinate with the officers of the originating ICDs/ CFSs to obtain relevant particulars in accordance with the procedure in para (iv) above. It shall be the responsibility of the officers in charge of CFSs at Gateway ports to obtain necessary details from the stakeholders ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ficials. 16. While they do accede to the position that their officers are, indeed, present, both at the CFS as well as at various other locations in the chain of export, the statutory burden cast upon the Liners by Section 41 is theirs and theirs alone. Since the role of the consolidator is merely to facilitate the activity of stuffing and that too at the behest of the petitioners, it is for the petitioners to liaise with the Consolidator and ensure proper channels of communication, so that errors or omissions do not arise in the EGM. 17. They oppose vehemently the request of the petitioners for access to the ICEGATE system pointing out that the design of the system is to receive inputs from all stakeholders, consolidate and integrate the same. The system would thus contain information/material that the all stakeholders cannot be made privy to. Thus, the petitioners cannot, as a matter of right, ask for access to the system and must, on the other hand, ensure that the documents and information that they upload are correct, complete and true in all respects. 18. I have heard learned counsels in details and perused the files. 19. As rightly pointed out by the petitioners, the imp ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 17. 33899/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 18. 33897/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 19. 33904/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 20. 33903/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 21. 33901/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 22. 33906/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 23. 33905/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 24. 33907/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 25. 33912/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 26. 33911/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 27. 33909/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 28. 33908/2019 28.03.2019 (26) 07.03.2019 (26) 2017 (26) 15.11.2019 29. 17460/2019 24.05.2019 20.02.2019 29.09.2018 - 30. 17464/2019 24.05.2019 12.02.2019 26.09.2018 - 31. 17470/2019 23.05.2019 04.03.2019 19.09.2018 - 32. 23009/2019 29.05.2019 04.03.2019 16.04.2017 - 33. 23016/2019 29.05.2019 04.03.2019 10.04.2017 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 19 19.12.2018 27.12.2018 01.06.2018 30.11.2018 12.02.2019 22.04.2019 04.10.2018 17.01.2018 05.09.2017 14.07.2017 26.12.2017 18.07.2017 - 75. 23074/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 15.05.2017 - 76. 23073/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 04.05.2017 - 77. 23070/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 24.06.2017 - 78. 23069/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 24.06.2017 - 79. 23067/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 08.05.2017 - 80. 23064/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 06.05.2017 - 81. 23063/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 04.05.2017 - 82. 23061/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 23.06.2017 - 83. 23054/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 07.06.2017 - 84. 23052/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 12.06.2017 - 85. 23051/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 05.06.2017 - 86. 23036/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 23.06.2017 - 87. 23049/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 30.05.2017 - 88. 23039/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 06.05.2017 - 89. 23035/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 14.06.2017 - 90. 23033/2019 29.05.2019 12.03.2019 16.05.2017 - 22. Some of the petitioners have, upon receipt of the show cause notices, rectified the error in the EGM even prior to the passing of the impugned orders and this ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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