SCN Pending for 12 years - Will JNCH Reply?

By Vijay Kumar

WHILE the e-helpline project of the JN Customs is laudable, DDT has come across the following issue:

A Show Cause Notice was issued to an importer in January 2003 and the importer replied in June 2003 and that was the end of it. Of course in the meanwhile, the Customs collected a huge amount of duty from them as a pre-condition for release of the goods.

Since then, the importer had been pleading with the Customs to give a hearing or issue an adjudication order. In spite of periodic reminders, there is stoic silence from the Department. The importer had written three letters to the Chief Commissioner, with no result.

Now, under the JN Customs, there are six Commissioners - God knows where this file is and whether it can be recovered.

What kind of helpline should this importer make use of in getting his adjudication order, so that he can rush to the Tribunal?

Or should the importer seek information under the RTI Act, 2005 and then file a Writ before the High Court to get a decision as in this case - see 2015-TIOL-1668-HC-MUM-CUS .