The Mumbai Bench of the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has held that imposing late fee charges merely because of filing of the second bill of entry is not valid.
Shri C.M. Sharma, Consultant appeared for the Appellant and Shri Ram Kumar, Assistant Commissioner, Authorised Representative for the Respondent.
M/s MIRC Electronics Ltd, the petitioner challenged the imposition of a late fee of Rs.2,26,437/-, i.e. equivalent to the duty of the imported goods, under Section 46(3) of the Customs Act, 1962 for filing of Bill of Entry after the stipulated time which was confirmed by the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals).
The imported goods namely the Remote Control for the TV Brand Onida arrived at Nhava Sheva under IGM No. 2235149 on dated 24.09.2019. Bill of Entry No. 5051519 was filed on the next day i.e. on 25.09.2019 through the ICEGATE System maintained by the Respondent-Department and the required fee in the form of BCD and SWS of Rs.66,846/- was debited through MEIS scrip.
No challan got generated in the system for which after a couple of days Appellant tried to ascertain the reason and observed that the Bill of Entry got purged before payment of duty through IGST. The Appellant was informed that a fresh Bill of Entry was required to be filed and accordingly it did the same on 02.12.2019 but the same resulted in the imposition of a late fee.
The Appellant requested through several letters between 03.12.2019 and 12.02.2020 for waiver of late fee charges but received back reply from the Assistant Commissioner, aggrieved by the order an appeal was filed before the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Mumbai-II, who also refused relief to the Appellant and denied to interfere in the order communicated vide the impugned letter dated 27.12.2019.
It is common knowledge that for various technical reasons and system errors or upon laps of time in rectifying the error shown in the ICEGATE system after submission Bill of Entry, it gets purged.
A single-member bench comprising of Dr Suvendu Kumar Pati, Member (Judicial) observed that a Bill of Entry is required to be filed by the next day of the landing of goods in Indian Customs territory and if the same is not filed/presented within the time, so specified and the proper officer is satisfied that there was no sufficient cause for such delay the importer shall pay fees for late presentation of Bill.
It was held that “imposition of the late fee itself and its confirmation by the Commissioner (Appeals) by erroneously holding that there was no dispute of the fact that Bill of Entry was filed beyond the time limit prescribed under Section 46(3) of the Customs Act, 1962, was irregular and unsupported by any legal provision.”
The appeal was allowed and the order passed by the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Mumbai-II, JNCH, Nhava Sheva vide Order-in-Appeal No. 480(GR-V)2022(JNCH)/Appeals dated 27.05.2022 confirming late fee of Rs.2,26,437/- is hereby set aside with consequential relief of refund.
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