Isha Exim Vs Commissioner of Customs (Madras High Court)
Madras High Court without expressing any opinion on merit, in the case of detention of Supari imported from Thailand, Court directed submission of an application under section 110-A of the Customs Act, 1962 for provisional release of goods.
Facts-
The petitioner has imported Supari from Thailand. According to the respondents, they are prohibited goods, whereas the petitioner categorically contends that they are not. According to the petitioner, as per the Advance Ruling dated 07.08.2015 in respect of M/s Excellant Betelnut Products Pvt Ltd., Nagpur, the subject goods namely Supari will fall under Chapter 21 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and therefore, they are not prohibited goods.
The petitioner categorically contended that the product Supari does not contain Lime, Katha (catechu) and Tobacco and also does not contain any other ingredients such as Cardamom, Copra or Menthol. Hence according to the petitioner, the product Supari will fall only under Chapter 21 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and they are not prohibited goods for import.
Accordingly, present writ petition is filed seeking for provisional release of imported goods.
Conclusion-
As seen from section 110-A of the Customs Act, 1962, an independent decision will have to be taken by the Customs Authorities with regard to the request made by any importer seeking for provisional release of the detained goods which has been detained under section 110-A of the Customs Act, 1962 as in the present case.
Therefore, no prejudice would be caused to the respondents, if the petitioner is allowed to submit an application under section 110-A of the Customs Act, 1962 seeking for provisional release of the detained goods and a direction is issued to the respondents to consider the said application on merits and in accordance with law, in the light of the contentions raised by the petitioner in these writ petitions within a time frame to be fixed by this Court.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF MADRAS HIGH COURT
These writ petitions have been filed seeking for provisional release of the imported goods vide the following Bills of Entries:
