TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2010 (10) TMI 51
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.... to the Petitioner. An alternate prayer is for a direction to the DGFT to reimburse the Petitioner the demurrage charges. The Petitioner also seeks the quashing of the auction held by the MPT on 7th November 2002 and for a direction to the MPT to decide the Petitioner's representation dated 14th March 2002 regarding the levy of the accumulated demurrage/port charges. 2. The Petitioner, a public limited company having its registered office at Chandigarh, is stated to have been incorporated with the main object of implementing a state of art technology project for manufacture of tractors of 48 HP. It is stated that on 5th November 1997, it entered into certain supply agreements with a company in Austria whereby the items to be imported by th....
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....d the demurrage as Rs. 1,99,73,633/- and communicated it to the Petitioner on 29th November 2002. The Petitioner was given the time till 2nd December 2002 to pay the entire amount. 6. The case of the Petitioner is that the delay, if any, in Petitioner being allowed to clear the imported goods was not on account of any default committed by the Petitioner. At every stage it was the DGFT or the Customs Department which had caused unnecessary delay. The SIL which had been applied in January 2001 was finally granted to the Petitioner only on 4th December 2001. The DGFT had erred in seeking to apply the new EXIM policy although the imports were covered by agreements entered into with the foreign supplier in 1997 itself. 7. On 17th December 200....
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....ugh it is the case of the Petitioner that these documents were supplied. Without going into this dispute learned counsel for the Petitioner states that the documents as demanded by Respondent No.3 shall be supplied within seven days. On receiving these documents Respondent No.3 shall take decision about remission of the demurrage charges within two weeks thereafter. List the application for hearing on 26th February 2003 along with the main Writ Petition. Copy of the Order be given DASTI to all the parties." 8. On 16th September 2005, by a detailed order this Court permitted the Petitioner to amend the writ petition subject to payment of Rs. 25,000/- as costs. The purpose of the amendment was to incorporate facts arising out of the devel....
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.... to clear the goods. 10. Appearing for the MPT, Mr. Gautam Talukdar, learned counsel submitted that in terms of Section 58 of the MPT Act demurrage became payable immediately on the landing of the goods at the port. Under Section 59 the Board of the MPT had a lien in respect of the imported goods for the dues owing to the MPT on account of all charges including demurrage. Under Section 59(2) of the MPT Act such lien would have priority over all other liens. Section 61 of the MPT Act makes it clear that after the expiry of two months from the time when any goods have passed into its custody or during a shorter time where the goods are of perishable nature, the Board of the MPT could sell all or a portion of the goods by auction or, for reas....
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....decided by a majority of 2:1 it was clarified by the Supreme Court as follows: "41. The purpose of the Customs Act on the one hand and the Major Port Trusts Act and the International Airports Authority Act on the other hand are different. The former deals with the collection of Customs duties on imported goods. The latter deals with the maintenance of sea-ports and airports, the facilities to be provided thereat and the charges to be recovered therefore. An importer must land the imported goods at a seaport or airport. He can clear them only after completion of Customs formalities. For this purpose, the sea-ports and airports are approved and provide storage facilities and Customs officers are accommodated therein to facilitate clearance. ....
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....payment of rent or storage charges. If such a proposition were to be accepted it would lead to catastrophic results. It is well known that in most cities, particularly port cities like Calcutta and Bombay, storage space is at a premium. If such a proposition were accepted then all that a person need to do is to make a demand for removal of the goods without offering to pay the storage charges. If the bailee were to refuse to allow clearance and exercise his right of lien, as he is bound to do, the bailor's purpose would be served. He would thereafter have rent free storage space. He could then continue to store the goods free of rent. On the other hand, if the bailee were to permit clearance, in almost all cases, his charges would not be su....