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 p