14. KPMG
Shri Nishant Shah

15. R.G. Sonavane
Batliboi Impex Pvt. Ltd.

16. SRTEPC (Synthetic & Rayon Textile Processing Committee)
Shri A. Ravindra Kumar

2. The Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone - I, welcomed all the members of the Trade, Industry and CHAs Association and the officers to the meeting.
The Chief Commissioner of Customs noted with concern that no agenda points were received except from All India Importers & Exporters Association. He requested the Associations and Members for more active participation in the Open House Meeting so that the utility and importance of this forum for redressal of grievances remains intact.

3. The representatives of trade, industry and CHA association raised the following points :-
I. Issues raised by All India Importers & Exporters Association :

3.1 The association represented that in their interface at various forums with Sr. Custom Officials they have time and again expressed the need for a very serious and intense initiative by the department in the matter of human resource development. The initiative could have many facets such as widening knowledge based training especially with regard to allied Acts/Provisions, Customs interface with citizens etc.. They also suggested that a proper implementation of Citizen Charter initiated by the department will also lead to a better interface with citizens.

3.1.1 The Chief Commissioner informed that the Customs department is conscious of the need for widening the knowledge base and continuously updating the same through training. Under the cadre re-structuring plan, special emph.asis has been given on this aspect and several Regional Training Institutes has been established to achieve this end. Further, the frequency of the training programmes organized by the Training Institutes has also increased. The Commissionerates is sending nominations for these courses regularly. He agreed that it is a fact that Customs monitors and enforces several other laws, rules, acts besides collecting revenue. Hence, the role of Customs has always remained multi-focused/dimensional and challenging. Thus, obviously there is always a need to constantly upgrade the qualitative and comprehensive knowledge base of the staff members. He further mentioned that "Citizens Charter" has been articulated by the department keeping in mind the fibers of good governance. There has been a constant endeavor by the officers to translate these fibers into action and inculcate the features of Citizens Charters in the day to day working at the cutting edge level as well as at the higher level.

3.1.2 The Chief Commissioner appreciated the points raised by the All India Importers & Exporters Association regarding Human Resource Development in Customs. He accepted the need for greater cooperation between the department and the citizen by way of holding of joint seminars/workshops etc. towards this end. He informed all the members that the department is willing to participate in workshops which can be organized by the associations on the following topics and officers of the department from Asstt. Commissioners and above will participate in the workshops. The topic could be as under :
1. Management of Export Promotion Schemes.
2. Public perception on Citizen Charter and its implementation by Customs department.

3.1.3 In this regard, the Chief Commissioner mentioned that Shri Nihlani (AIIEA), Col.T.S.Tanwari (Retd.) (MANSA) and Shri Ghulam Mohammad (FIEO) shall work out the strategy to organize the workshop in near future. He further mentioned that from the department's side, Shri Rajendra Singh, Jt. Commissioner (Export) and Shri Vivek Prasad, Jt. Commissioner (Import) shall extend all necessary help for holding the workshop.

4. During the meeting the following points were also discussed.
4.1 Testing of fabric as to whether fabric imported is texturised or non-texturised and also whether the fabric is printed with Azo-Dyes : The representative of FIEO informed that the present practice of drawing samples to Textile Committee is functioning properly, however, he requested the department to do away with the requirement of testing for Azo-Dyes as none of the samples tested so far has given positive for Azo-Dyes. He requested to consider that atleast this could be done only on a random basis. He also informed that the samples are still forwarded by JCH, Nhava Sheva to the TC Laboratory through CHA/importers only. He further requested that this may be discontinued and samples should be sent only through the authorised officers.

4.1.2 The Chief Commissioner informed that the requirement to test for Azo-Dyes cannot be done away with by Customs as the same has been prescribed by the Ministry of Commerce. He opined that if aggrieved, the trade may take up the matter with Commerce Ministry. Regarding forwarding of samples to the TC Laboratory through proper officer by JCH, Nhava Sheva, the Chief Commissioner of Customs Zone-II, Shri Joseph Dominic informed that the same will be implemented with immediate effect.

5. The Chief Commissioner informed all the members that the Budget exercise for the year 2004-2005 shall begin shortly. He requested all the members to submit their suggestions/proposals/points during the next meeting for detailed discussions and sending them to the Ministry for their consideration.

6. The next meeting will be held on 01.12.2003 at 1530 hrs.. The points sponsored for the meeting should reach Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone I & II by 24.11.2003 positively.

(C.M.SHARMA)
Addl. Commissioner of Customs/CCO
Mumbai - I

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1. The Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone-II & Zone-III.
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