1995 (11) TMI 105

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....dustries Ltd., Kundara (ALIND for short) imported [some] aluminium rods for which shipment was made from Switzerland. A vessel carrying 75 metric tonnes of such aluminium rods arrived at Cochin Port on 12-8-1982. The Customs authorities assessed the import duty of Rs. 5,37,670/- on the said goods, but as the customs authorities refused to give clearance for release of the rods, ALIND filed the original petition for a direction to the appellants to permit ALIND to clear and transport the goods. In the counter affidavit filed on behalf of the appellant it was contended that the import duty of Rs. 5,37,670/- was assessed on the goods on the erroneous impression that rate of duty on 2-8-1982 was the same as the rate prevalent on 31-7-1982. But ....

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....applicable to the imported goods shall be the rate in force on the date on which a bill of entry in respect of such goods is presented under Section 46. But the proviso to sub-section (? ) read thus : "Provided that if a bill of entry has been presented before the date of entry inwards of the vessel by which the goods are imported, the bill of entry shall be deemed to have been presented on the date of such entry inwards". The expression "entry inwards of the vessel" is not defined in the Act, but its connotation can easily be gauged by a reference to Section 31 of the Act. As per the said provision, the master of a vessel shall not permit the unloading of any imported goods until an order has been given by the proper officer "grantin....

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.... the omission to know of the new rates of import duty which has resulted in the assessment made at the first instance.When the error was brought to the notice of the authorities they corrected it and imposed a duty of Rs. 11,99,211/- in accordance with the rate applicable to the goods. The principle underlying in Section 154 of the Act is that records relating to customs duty are maintained properly and correctly and that such records should represent the correct state of affairs. Almost a similar power can be found conferred on the Civil Court by Section 152 of the Code of Civil Procedure. All the four categories of errors enumerated by us above are mentioned in Section 152 CPC also. 7.In Bishnu Charan Das v. Dhani Biswal (AIR 1977 Oris....