OFFICE OF THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS,
MUMBAI ZONE - I, NEW CUSTOM HOUSE,
BALLARD ESTATE, MUMBAI 400 001.

MINUTES OF THE OPEN HOUSE MEETING OF THE CHIEF COMMISSIONERS OF CUSTOMS, MUMBAI ZONE-I, II & III HELD WITH THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE TRADE AND INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS ON 4th OCTOBER, 2006 AT 3.30 P.M. IN
THE CONFERENCE HALL OF THE MUMBAI CUSTOM HOUSE.

The Open House Meeting for the month of October, 2006 was held under the Chairmanship of Shri K. M. Tiwari, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone I, Shri S. K. Goel, Chief Commissioner of Customs. Mumbai Zone-II and Shri Sumit Dutt Majumder, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone-III on 04.10.2006, at 3.30 P.M. in the Conference Hall, New Custom House, Ballard Estate, Mumbai - 400 001. Shri S. S. Sandhu, Zonal Jt. D.G.F.T., Mumbai and Shri Sunil Jain, Joint Commissioner of Customs, EDI were also present during the meeting.

i) BCHAA (Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association).
Shri Naval Mehta,
Shri Pankaj Shah,
Shri R.Radhakrishnan,
Shri H.D.Mehta,
Shri Nailesh Gandhi and
Shri Rajiv Desai.

ii) MANSA (Mumbai and Nhava-Sheva Ship Agents Association)
Capt. C. S. Murthy.

iii) Indian Merchant Chamber
Shri K.M.Doshi.

iv) B.C.C.I.
Shri Pravin Kanakia.

3. At the outset, the Chief Commissioner Zone - I welcomed and Shri S.K. Goel, Chief Commissioner Zone II and Shri S.S.Sandhu Zonal Jt. DGFT, Mumbai as well the Members of House to the meeting.

4. He introduced Shri S.K.Goel, Chief Commissioner Zone II to the House and expressed that Shri S.K.Goel will prove to be a worthy successor to his worthy predecessors as the Chief Commissioner Zone-II.

5. Shri R. Radhakrishnan of BCHAA welcomed Shri S.K.Goel, Chief Commissioner Zone-II on behalf of their Association. Shri K. M. Doshi of Indian Merchants Chamber also welcomed Shri S. K. Goel Chief Commissioner of Customs, Zone-II and extended his good wishes.

6 The Members of the House were introduced by Shri R. Radhakrishnan to Shri S. K. Goel, Chief Commissioner, Zone-II. Shri S. K. Goel Chief Commissioner, Zone-II thanked the Members for welcoming him and assured that he would be looking forward to their co-operation for the common goal of Trade Facilitation and maximisation of Government Revenue.

7. Shri S. Dutt Majumder, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Zone-III briefed the House regarding the references made to the Board and the steps taken in Zone-III on the issues related to the Courier Services.

8. Thereafter, the discussions on the action taken in respect of the points of the previous meeting were taken up.

9. Regarding point No. 7 of the previous meeting “Delay in Refund of Revenue Deposits” raised by MANSA, Chief Commissioner Zone-I clarified regarding the present status and the payments made and stated that the rest of the cases would be
finalised shortly.

With respect to doing away with the revenue deposits at the time of filing IGM by the Shipping Lines, Chief Commissioner Zone-I stated that the matter has already been taken up with the Board and a reminder would be submitted soon.
(Action: Commissioner of Customs (IMP), New Custom House, Mumbai.)

10. Regarding Point No. 11 of the previous meeting " the nomenclature of payment of customs duty", the Chief Commissioner Zone-I conveyed to the House that necessary Facility Notice / Public Notice have been issued and the matter stands resolved now.

11. Regarding Point No. 14 of the previous meeting i.e. interruption in power supply in JNCH, Chief Commissioner of Customs Zone-II clarified the position and explained in detail the consistent efforts being made to alleviate the problems in power supply faced by both the Trade and also the Department.

Regarding the request for " uninterrupted power supply", Chief Commissioner of Customs, Zone-I maintained that such an issue has to be taken up with the State Government authorities and emphasised that Joint efforts by Trade Associations and the Department are required to achieve tangible results in a time bound manner.

12. The minutes of the previous meeting were accepted as approved by the House.

13. The agenda points for the instant meeting were taken up next, for discussion.

14. With respect to the Agenda points raised by MANSA, " submission of EGMs for containers re-exported", Chief Commissioner of Customs, Zone-I clarified that Public Notice No. 49/2006 dated 29.09.2006 has been issued in this regard and asked the steamer agents to follow the guidelines as per the Public Notice. The copies of the Public Notice were circulated amongst the Members.

15. Regarding Point No.2 , sponsored by MANSA about the ' refund of Revenue Deposits' to POL India Agency Ltd., Chief Commissioner of Customs, Zone-I clarified that Rs. 25,000/- has already been granted to M/s POL India Agency Ltd and the rest would be settled soon. On being asked whether the list of pending refund cases has been submitted, the representative of MANSA stated that 3 lists containing details of 80 cases have been submitted to Shri Manish Mohan , Joint Commissioner , Import , New Custom House, Mumbai.
( Action: Commissioner of Customs (IMP), New Custom House, Mumbai.)

16. With respect to the point sponsored by Shri Naval H. Mehta of M/s White and Co. Pvt Ltd. regarding " Refund claims in pursuance of order of Assessment without challenging the Assessment order", seeking suitable amendment in Section 27 of the Customs Act, 1962, Chief Commissioner Zone-I informed that the subject matter has been referred to the Board and Shri Naval H. Mehta can also take up the matter with the Board directly.

17. Some Members brought up the issue of failure of ICEGATE resulting into huge pile up of documents and EGM related problems in JNCH, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Zone-I requested the Members to meet the concerned Commissioners for redressal of their problems. Chief Commissioner of Customs Zone-II also requested the concerned Members to meet him separately to sort out this problem.

18. On the issue of delay in verification of genuineness of export documents by Customs as requested by Central Excise authorities for availment of Rebate, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Zone II asked the concerned Members to discuss the matter with him in a separate meeting.

19. About CHA Licences being renewed for short periods, which was brought up by BCHAA for discussions, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Zone-I asked the Member to take up the matter with Commissioner of Customs (General), New Custom House, Mumbai.

20. The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.

21. The next Open House Meeting will be held on 8th NOVEMBER at 15.30 hrs. The points sponsored for discussion for the next meeting should reach POSITIVELY by 28st OCTOBER 2006 in the offices of the Chief Commissioner
of Customs, Mumbai Zone I, II and III, so that the issues can be taken up effectively.

(J. S. CHANDRASHEKAR)
Addl. Commissioner of Customs
Chief Commissioner’s Office
Mumbai Zone - I.