Case Law Details
Global Impex Vs Manager, Celebi Import Shed And Anr. (Delhi High Court)
(i) The custodian has a lien over the imported goods, consigned to its custody. This lien may be statutory, as provided under the IAA Act, all the Major Port Trusts Acts, or contractual. It may also be relatable to Sections 170 and 171 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
(ii) This lien entitles the custodian to retain hold of the goods, consigned to its custody, till all its dues, including ground rent and demurrage, are paid.
(iii) The Customs authorities have no power, or the jurisdiction, to issue any instruction, to the custodian, requiring the custodian to waive, in whole or in part, the demurrage chargeable by it. Of course, this would be subject to any stipulation, in the statutory or other instrument governing the affairs of the custodian, to the effect that, where the detention certificate was issued by the Customs authorities, the importer would be entitled to waiver of demurrage, in whole or in part. In the absence of any such stipulation, statutory or otherwise, the Customs authorities could not, by issuance of the detention certificate, or by any other communication, direct the custodian not to charge demurrage, or to waive the whole, or part, of the demurrage chargeable by it.
(iv) In applying the above principles, the issue of whether the goods in question had been licitly, or illicitly, imported, as also the detention of the goods, by the Customs authorities, was justified or unjustified, bona fide or mala fide, are entirely irrelevant.
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