Point of Law : Issues involving disputed questions of fact, not amenable to adjudication under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. It is not open to the Court - just as it was not open to the executive authorities.

JUDGMENT :

C. HARI SHANKAR, J.

1. Between the time when imported goods land on Indian soil, and the Customs authorities release them from their charge so that they become part of the “commercial land mass” of the country, they suffer various financial exactions, statutory as well as contractual. It is not necessary for us, in these petitions, to enter into the intricacies of the procedures followed before the applicable duties or taxes are paid and the goods, are released by the Customs. We are concerned with the amount which the importers (or exporters, in the case of export goods) pay, during this period, to the shipping lines, Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and/or Container Freight Stations (CFSs). ICDs and CFSs are Customs Cargo Service Providers, who permit storage of imported goods, prior to their being released by the Customs after payment of duty, against pre-fixed and pre-determined charges. These charges involve various elements with which, too, we need not concern ourselves. The petitioners in these petitions are concerned with the penal charges levied by ICDs/CFSs, for the period, beyond a certain number of “free days”, during which the goods continue to remain in their premises, and levied by shipping lines, in the event the containers are not returned to them within a fixed number of “free days”. Ordinarily, therefore, after containers are unloaded from the vessel in which they arrive, the containers are required to be returned to the shipping lines within a contractually stipulated number of days. If they are so returned, no additional charge is levied on the importer. If they are not returned to the shipping lines within such “free days”, they suffer detention charges, levied by the shipping lines in accordance with the contract executed between the shipping lines and the importers. Similarly, ICDs and CFSs also permit the imported goods to be stored within their premises for a number of “free days”, on payment of normal charges. If the goods remain in their premises beyond such “free days”, they suffer penal charges, chiefly ground rent at much higher rates than is ordinarily charged.

2. The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC; now rechristened “CBIC”) issued, on 22nd December, 1995, a Circular, simplifying the procedure for setting up ICDs and CFSs. We may reproduce paras 2 and 3 of the said Circular:

“2. The Container Freight Station (CFS) is not a Customs Station but it is to be declared as a Customs area under Section 8 of the Customs Act, “8. Power to approve landing places and specify limits of customs area. – The Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs may –

(a) approve proper places in any customs port or customs airport or coastal port for the unloading and loading of goods or for any class of goods;

(b) specify the limits of any customs area.”

This provision is required to be read in conjunction with Section 33 of the Customs Act:

“33. Unloading and loading of goods at approved places only. – Except with the permission of the proper officer, no imported goods shall be unloaded, and no export goods shall be loaded, at any place other than a place approved under clause (a) of section 8 for the unloading of loading of such goods.” by the Commissioners of Customs concerned. Normally, every CFS is located in a Customs Station or in an adjunct to a Customs station. CFS may handle exclusively export cargo or import cargo or both. Generally, CFS is taken to be an extended arm of the Port/ICD/ACC. Depending upon its importance and volume of work it handles, it functions like a full-fledged Customs Station wherein the admission, processing and completion of all customs procedures are done. Alternatively, the processing of the Customs clearance documents is done in the Customs House and the CFS functions like ‘Docks’ where the examination and sealing of export cargo or examination and customs clearance of import cargo is done. Thus, depending upon the location, workload and other related fact