Merchant overtime fee for export stuffing may be linked to export documents, not time alone under the notification.

Merchant overtime fee for customs officers engaged in stuffing export consignments was contested on whether it should be computed only by time spent or by the number of ARE-1/export documents handled. The notification prescribed a minimum levy of three hours, while the relied-on clarification was treated as dealing only with allocation of charges among importers or exporters during the relevant period. It did not alter the charging basis fixed by the notification. The fee could therefore validly depend on the export documents processed, and the challenge to the levy failed.

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Issues: Whether merchant overtime fee for customs officers engaged for stuffing export consignments was payable on the basis of the number of ARE-1/export documents or only on the basis of the time spent by the officer.

Analysis: The notification prescribed a minimum levy of three hours for such services, but the clarification relied upon by the appellant dealt with the sharing of charges among importers or exporters whose work was attended to during the relevant period. It did not state that the fee was to be determined by time alone irrespective of the number of export consignments or ARE-1 documents. The clarification was treated as relating to administrative allocation of charges and not as a construction of the legal basis for fixing merchant overtime fee in respect of each export document.

Conclusion: The fee was not payable merely with reference to hours spent by the officer in the manner contended by the appellant, and the appellant's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeals were rejected because the claimed basis for computing merchant overtime fee was not accepted.

Ratio Decidendi: A circular concerning administrative allocation of overtime charges cannot override or alter the charging basis indicated by the governing notification, and the fee liability may validly depend on the export documents handled.

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