PESTICIDES INDIA Vs. ASSISTANT COLLECTOR OF CENTRAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE two writ petitions involve a common questian of law and arise out of similar facts and, therefore, they are being disposed of by a common order.

(2.) THE petitioners in both the cases are licencees of private bonded warehouses under Section 58 of the Customs Act, 1962 (No. LII of 1962) (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') and now their licences have been threatened to be cancelled/or renewal refused by the Assistant Collector, Central Excise, Udaipur on the ground that now public bonded warehouses have already been constructed by the Warehousing Corporation of India and, therefore, the private bonded warehouses should not be allowed to continue. It is on account of this invasion of their rights to hold the private bonded warehouses, that the petitioners have come up before this Court. The private bonded warehouses of petitioner No. 1 is situated at Udaisagar Road and that of petitioner No. 2 at Fatehpura crossing, Nathdwara Road, at Udaipur, which have been declared as warehousing stations. The licences granted to the petitioners since March, 1978 had been renewed upto 1983. The petitioner applied for renewal of their licences for the year 1984. In the mean time, by order dated 14.11.83, the Assistant Collector, Central Excise Division, Udaipur has appointed a public warehouse at Shreeji Industries, Pratap Nagar, Udaipur and on this ground in December, 1983, show cause notices have been issued to the petitioners as to why their licences may not be cancelled. Thereafter, without taking into consideration their replies, licence of petitioner No. 1 has been refused to be renewed and that of petitioner No. 2 has been renewed with the condition that no fresh arrivals be stored in the bonded warehouse.

(3.) IN order to appreciate the dispute between parties, it will be proper to first have a look at the relevant provisions of the Act. Section 12 of the Act provides for levy of customs duty on goods imported into or exported from India, such goods being called dutiable goods in terms of Section 2(14) of the Act. Under Section 45 of the Act, all imported goods unloaded into a customs area have to remain in the custody of such person, as may be approved by the Collector of Customs until they are cleared for home consumption or are warehoused or transhipped in accordance with provisions of Chapter VIII. Section 47, then, provides clearance of goods for home consumption after the duty assessed thereon has already been paid. Now, before the goods are, thus, cleared for home consumption under Section 47, they have to be warehoused so as to be in the custody of the person appointed under Section 45 of the Act and it is not uncommon that in large business houses, the goods are imported or exported in big lots and payment of customs on such large lots in lump sum may not always be convenient and feasible at the time of the loading or unloading of the goods at the customs port. Therefore, the provision has been made for warehousing these goods at proper place and to be under the control and custody of the officer appointed under Section 45. Therefore, the provisions have been made for declaring the place to be warehousing station and appointing warehouses under Sections 9, 57 and 58 of the Act. Section 9 says that the Board may by notification in the official Gazette declare places to be warehousing stations at which alone public warehouses may be appointed and private warehouses may be licensed. Then Section 57 provides that at any warehousing station, the Assistant Collector of Customs may appoint public warehouses wherein dutiable goods may be deposited without payment of duty. Then, comes Section 58 providing for licensing of private warehouses. It reads as under : -