M/S. VENTURE IMPEX Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Petition impugns the inaction of the Respondents No. 2 to 7 i.e. the Customs Authorities, in not releasing a consignment of 400 tonnes of mineral oil imported by the Petitioner, which arrived on 23/12/2023 and 27/12/2023.

(2.) It is the Petitioner's case that the goods were subjected to the conventional tests in order to ascertain whether the goods would fall within any prohibited list and if not, the applicable duty rate would apply on the said import. Till date, the goods have not been cleared and it is the Petitioner's contention that the test report in this case is identical to the test report that relates to 500 imports made in the past, none of which faced such resistance from the said Respondents.

(3.) The reason for mentioning the matter urgently during vacation is said to be the concern expressed by Container Corporation of India Limited (for short "CONCOR") which runs the container freight station at Dronagiri, which is the Respondent No. 9 in this Petition. We have been given communications from the CONCOR dtd. 9/5/2024 and 30/5/2024, which alert the Petitioner to the risk of leakages due to spike in the temperature in current peak summer conditions, whereby bulging has been noticed in several containers posing a significant risk of leakages, which could compromise the integrity of the cargo and also inflict financial losses on all concerned parties.