Bill of entry is not a delivery order; it does not attract stamp duty under the Bombay Stamp Act.

A bill of entry filed under the Customs Act is used for assessment, clearance and warehousing of imported goods, but it does not itself operate as a delivery order or document of title. Because Article 24 of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958 applies only to an instrument that entitles a person to delivery of goods, a bill of entry is not chargeable to stamp duty under that entry. Read with Section 2(l), the document also does not create, transfer, limit, extend, extinguish or record a right or liability in the manner required for chargeability. The distinction from a bill of lading was noted, since that instrument may confer delivery rights, unlike a bill of entry.

---

---

Issues: (i) Whether a bill of entry is a delivery order liable to stamp duty under Article 24 of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958; (ii) Whether a bill of entry is an instrument creating, transferring, limiting, extending, extinguishing or recording any right or liability within Section 2(l) of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958.

Issue (i): Whether a bill of entry is a delivery order liable to stamp duty under Article 24 of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958.

Analysis: Article 24 applies only to an instrument that entitles the named person, his assigns, or the holder to delivery of goods lying in a dock, port, warehouse, or wharf. A bill of entry under the Customs Act is filed to enable assessment, clearance, and warehousing of imported goods. It is not negotiable, cannot be endorsed or assigned to confer a right of delivery, and does not operate as a document of title or an order for delivery of goods. The statutory scheme of Sections 45, 46, and 47 of the Customs Act shows that the bill of entry is part of the customs clearance process and not the instrument by which delivery is effected.

Conclusion: A bill of entry is not a delivery order and is not chargeable to stamp duty under Article 24.

Issue (ii): Whether a bill of entry is an instrument creating, transferring, limiting, extending, extinguishing or recording any right or liability within Section 2(l) of the Bombay Stamp Act, 1958.

Analysis: Though a bill of entry may be a document used in customs administration, Section 2(l) must be read with the charging entry in Article 24. For stamp duty to arise, the document must specifically entitle delivery of goods. Since a bill of entry merely facilitates assessment and clearance and does not itself create or transfer any right to receive goods, it does not satisfy the statutory requirement for chargeability as a delivery order. By contrast, a bill of lading is recognized as a document of title and may operate as an order for delivery, but that character does not attach to a bill of entry.

Conclusion: A bill of entry is not an instrument chargeable as a delivery order within Section 2(l) read with Article 24.

Final Conclusion: The levy of stamp duty on bills of entry was disapproved, the impugned findings were modified only to the limited extent indicated, and the appeals failed in substance.

Ratio Decidendi: Stamp duty under Article 24 can be levied only on an instrument that itself confers a right to delivery of goods, and a bill of entry used for customs assessment and clearance does not answer that description.

---