TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (10) TMI 983
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.... wholly without jurisdiction or authority. 2.W.P.No.152 of 2022 has been filed by the Company challenging the impugned letter issued by the 2nd respondent dated 22.12.2021, as a consequence of the Public Notice issued by the 1st respondent dated 12.02.2021. 3.The case of the petitioners is that they are Container Freight Stations governed by the handling of cargo in Customs Area Regulations, 2009, which is a guideline issued by the Customs Department through Notification No.26/2009. 4.Section 48 of the Customs Act, 1962 (for the sake of brevity, hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') provides the procedure in case where import cargo is not cleared, warehoused or transhipped within 30 days after unloading. If the consignee fails to clear the cargo within the time frame, a notice has to be issued to the consignee. The person in custody of the goods, with the permission of the appropriate Officer is entitled to sell the goods in their custody. In other words, Container Freight Station is entitled to auction any uncleared or unclaimed cargo after issuance of notice if goods imported for home consumption are not cleared within 30 days from the date of import. 5.Sectio....
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....d value is being demanded from the H1 bidder by the Custodians and the Custodians are not honouring the delivery order issued by this office. 5. In this regard. it is reiterated that no amount over and above the bid value in whatsoever form is demandable from the H1 bidder. The custodian is in the receipt of bid amount from the H1 bidder after appropriation of amount towards duty/IGST. If at all any further additional tax such as SGST etc is payable, it can be paid from the balance bid amount held by the Custodian. For the appropriation of bid amount, the Custodians are hereby directed to adhere to the provisions in Section 150 of the Customs Act, 1962. 9.Based on the above Public Notice, the office of the Commissioner of Customs informed the CFS not to charge GST on the auctioned cargo, since it will lead to double taxation. 10.In the case of the petitioner in W.P.No.149 of 2022 the consignment imported was Austrian White Wood and the importer did not clear the goods. Ultimately, a notice dated 09.07.2020 was issued by the petitioner to the importer under Section 48 of the Act informing that if no reply is received, the petitioner will proceed to clear the cargo by ....
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....behalf of the petitioners submitted that the 1st and 2nd respondents directed the petitioners not to collect GST on the goods sold through auction under Section 48 of the Act and the same is not sustainable in law, since they have no jurisdiction to give directions on whether GST is to be levied or not, once the customs duty has been duly paid. It was further submitted that the custodian of the cargo is rendering a service by auctioning the cargo to the auction purchaser who is the ultimate beneficiary of the cargo. Hence, such custodian referred to under Sections 45 and 141(2) of the Customs Act clearly qualify as a service being rendered by the petitioners, for which the petitioners are liable to collect GST. It was further submitted that the goods that are sold through an auction is supply of goods and GST will be applicable on the supply of goods. The goods lose their character of imported goods and the auction purchaser is not an importer. In view of the same, the auction sale is assessable under the CGST Act. 15.Per contra, the learned Senior Panel Counsel appearing for the respondents apart from reiterating the stand taken in the counter affidavit, submitted that the bid ....
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....refore cannot be treated as an importer. 22.There is yet another angle through which the part played by the CFS can be viewed. The CFS as a customs cargo service provider under the Regulations is responsible for the receipt, storage, delivery etc., of the imported goods and export goods and includes the custodian as referred to Section 45 and Section 141(2) of the Customs Act and this also qualifies as a service being rendered by the CFS for which the petitioners are liable to collect GST. Admittedly, this service has not been exempted under the GST and therefore, the service tax ought to be paid by the petitioners. If that is not done, the custodian has to pay the entire service tax out of their pocket. Whereas, for the GST paid by the auction purchaser, they can avail the input tax credit. 23.It is not known as to where the 1st respondent gets the power and jurisdiction to issue a Public Notice directing the custodians not to collect GST. This direction given by the 1st respondent certainly does not fall within the domain of the customs authorities. 24.Under the Scheme of the Act, the only right that is available for the authorities to make Regulations is provided under ....