Ruma Pal, J. - (1.) The subject matter of controversy in this writ application is the liability of the petitioner to pay interest on goods warehoused by the petitioner under Section 59 of the Customs Act, 1962.
(2.) The goods in question being 207.601 LDPE Granules, arrived on 28 November 1990 from Hongkong by SS Vishwa Prafulla. On 4th December 1990 the Bill of Entry for warehousing was filed under Section 59 of the Act. A separate portion of the goods arrived subsequently by another ship. However the facts relating to the separate portion are immaterial for the purposes of this case.
(3.) On 2nd November 1989 a public notice No. 406/89 was issued by the Collector of Customs to the following effect: "Representation had been received by the Central Board of Excise & Customs from the trade against the levy of interest on the amount of Customs Duty on warehoused goods cleared from warehouse without payment of duty either for export or for home consumption. The importers have been disputing the levy of interest on the plea that when the goods are not at all levied to Customs duty on clearance, they should not also be liable to the interest. The matter has been carefully considered by the Board and it has been decided that the interest shall be levied in cases where goods are cleared without payment of duty and such interest shall be calculated with reference to the rate of duty assessed, at the time of initial warehousing of the goods. Subsequent exemption of any kind shall not be regarded as automatically exempting such goods from interest liability. This is for the information and guidance of the trade.";