9911796707
TMI Blog1993 (3) TMI 127X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 100 and 100 cartons respectively out of the total quantity of 1000 great gross. The said three consignments arrived in the port of Calcutla between 10th of July, 1989 and 17th of August, 1989. Between 1st of October, 1989 and 24th of October, 1989, the writ petitioner through his clearing agent filed three separate bills of entry for warehousing in respect of the aforesaid three consignments. On 20th of Octobcr, 1989 and 26th of October, 1989 the said bills of entry were duly assessed by the Assistant Collector of Customs under Section 47 of the Customs Act. The duty payable by the petitioner for the aforesaid three consignments were assessed in the said bills of entry. 2.According to the writ petitioner, on 3-11-1989 the Import Bond Depa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... urther prayer was also made by the writ petitioner that a direction be given to the customs authority to allow warehousing of the three consignments under Section 59 of the Customs Act at the cost of the writ petitioner without any payment of interest prior to expiry of 90 days from the date of actual physical warehousing of the goods imported. Before deciding the question of law raised in this writ application as referred to hereinabove, I must mention one more fact in this connection. K.M. Yusuf, J. (as His Lordship then was) on 14th September, 1990 allowed the writ petitioners to remove the said three consignments at their own cost subject to payment of all the charges in respect of the goods imported . By the said order the writ petitio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and on deposit of the amount as aforesaid the writ petitioners have already taken delivery of the aforesaid three consignments from the customs authorities. Therefore, the only question that remains to be decided in this writ petition is whether "the interest" is payable by the writ petitioner in terms of Section 61(2) of the Customs Act. For a proper decision on this question, it is necessary to deal with some of the relevant provisions of the Customs Act. 4.Section 2(43) of the Act defines "warehouse". "Warehouse" means a public warehouse appointed under Section 57 of the Act or a private warehouse licensed under Section 58 of the Act. 5.Section 2(44) of the Act defines "warehoused goods". "Warehoused goods" means goods deposited in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... for supply to a foreign diplomatic mission;(ii) or goods intended for use in any manufacturing process or(iii) other operations in accordance with the provisions of Section 65; or goods intended for use in any hundred percent,(iv) export-oriented undertaking; or goods which the Central Government may, if it is satisfied(v) that it is necessary or expedient so to do, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify for the purposes of this clause, till the expiry of one year : .............. Where any(2) warehoused goods, specified in clause (a) of sub-section (1), remain in a warehouse beyond a period of one year, by reason of extension of the aforesaid period or otherwise, interest at such rate as specified in Section 47 shall b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... question of clearance of such goods from the warehouse does not arise at all. Apart from that the words "warehoused goods" and "may be removed" as used in Section 61 of the Act would also clearly show that the legislature intended that an importer shall be held responsible for payment of interest under Section 61(2) of the Act in case of physical or actual warehousing of the goods imported. Therefore, from a plain reading of Section 61 read with Section 2(44) of the Act and other relevant provisions of the Act as noted [sic] it is evident that interest is payable by an importer if the goods are physically warehoused. That means, the interest can be charged only if the goods are physically deposited in a warehouse. In this connection, Secti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... is not liable to pay interest under Section 61(2) of the Act for the period when the goods were not physically warehoused. 11.Mr. Kundu, appearing on behalf of the customs authorities, contended that by endorsing bond numbers in the bills of entry of the goods, it should be deemed that they were in fact warehoused. In my view, this submission of Mr. Kundu has no substance. We cannot introduce the concept of deeming provision while determining the question of payment of interest under Section 61(2) of the Act which clearly says that such interest would be payable only in cases of warehoused goods. From a plain reading of the aforesaid provisions of the Act, particularly, the definition of the "warehoused goods" in Section 2(44) of the Act ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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