Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
159A, North Block,
New Delhi-110001.
22nd July, 2010.
Instructions
To
All Chief Commissioners of Customs / Customs (Prev).
All Commissioners of Customs (Port).
All Commissioners of Customs (Airport).
All Commissioners of Customs & Central Excise.
Subject: Measures for expeditious disposal of unclaimed / uncleared goods –
instructions – regarding
Sir / Madam,
Reference is invited to the Board’s
Circulars No.50/2005-Customs dated
1.12.2005,
No.52/2005-Customs dated 9.12.2005,
No.11/2006-Customs dated
16.2.2006 and
No.12/2006-Customs dated 20.2.2006 on expeditious disposal of the
backlog of accumulated unclaimed / uncleared cargo under Section 48 of the
Customs Act, 1962 and ensuring that no delays in disposal of such cargo takes
place in future. The Board has also laid down the procedure for disposal of
goods through e-auction / tender conducted under instruction
F.No.442/12/2004-Cus.IV(Pt.II) dated 6.10.2005 and for disposal of hazardous
waste in terms of
Circular No.31/2004-Customs dated 26.4.2004 pursuant to the
instructions given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
- In this context, attention is also invited to Regulation 6(1)(m) of the
‘Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009’ which stipulates that the
Customs Cargo Service Provider (CCSP) shall “dispose off in the manner specified
and within a time limit of ninety days, the imported or export goods lying
unclaimed, uncleared or abandoned provided that the period of ninety days are
extended by the Commissioner of Customs by such further period as may be
allowed, on sufficient cause being shown for delay in the disposal”.
- However, it has come to the notice of the Board that its instructions are not
being followed strictly by the Customs field formations and large quantities of
goods including hazardous goods are still pending disposal at various customs
stations. In this regard, whereas primary responsibility of disposal of
unclaimed / uncleared goods rests with custodian appointed under the provisions
of Section 45 of the Customs Act, 1962 read with Handling of Cargo in Customs
Areas Regulations, 2009, substantial revenue gets blocked if disposal does not
take place in time. Also, such uncleared / unclaimed goods pose a serious safety
and security threat, at times and may lead to untoward incidents such as the
recent incident of leakage of Chlorine gas at Mumbai port.
- The Board has taken a serious note of this situation and directs that each
Customs formation will constitute a ‘Task Force’ for a one-time comprehensive
review of the list of all consignments indicated as uncleared / unclaimed by the
respective custodians and match the same with the Customs records. This should
be followed by regular periodic meetings with the custodians to update the
status of pending consignments. Further, in cases where consignments are
indicated as being ‘detained’ by Customs, all pending actions such as
investigation, adjudication and related court proceedings should be taken up for
completion without delay. Needless to state, it will be the responsibility of
the Commissioners to ensure the expeditious disposal of unclaimed / uncleared
cargo on regular basis. It is expected that with renewed emphasis on this
important item of work appreciable progress will be made.
- The progress made in disposal along with age-wise break up of pending
unclaimed / uncleared cargo that is ripe for disposal as on 31.12.2010 may be
sent to the Board by 10.1.2011.
Yours faithfully,
( R. P. Singh )
Director (Customs)
Internal circulation as usual.
F. No.450/97/2010-Cus.IV