Customs - Fees for Rendering Services by Customs Officers - No Fee in 24/7 operations
AS per the Customs (Fees For Rendering Services by Customs Officers) Regulations, 1998, On a request made in that behalf by any person, a fee as given in the Table shall be levied for rendering of services by the Customs Officers.
Now, the Board has amended the regulations to insert a proviso,
Provided that where the working hours in respect of clearance of cargo in Customs ports or Customs airports, has been prescribed as twenty- four hours on all days for customs clearance, no fee shall be leviable in such locations for the services rendered by the officers.
Maybe this is another "ease of doing business" step. As such the rates are not very high. The fee for getting a Superintendent/Appraiser is a maximum of Rs. 180 per hour. You can get him for Rs. 1440 for eight hours during the night and Rs. 1120 during the day on a holiday. The Government pays him more than double that sum.
In fact, the CAG had raised an objection in 2014 that the Government has not revised the rates thus losing revenue. The CAG observed,
"MOT rates were increased by more than 100 per cent with effect from October 1998 by revising the existing rates prescribed in Regulations of 1968 consequent to 3 to 3.5 times pay hike of the Central Government employees after implementation of recommendations of the 5th Pay Commission. After implementation of recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission in August 2008, basic pay of Central Government employees was again hiked by 2.42 to 3.23 times as compared to the pay prescribed by 5th Pay Commission. However, corresponding revision of MOT rates has not been carried out so far by the Board and accordingly MOT charges are still being levied at rates prescribed in September 1998. Board did not contemplate periodical revision of the MOT rates subsequent to the revision of pay scales on implementation of the Pay Commission's recommendations."
Small Money!
Notification No. ., Dated: April 01, 2016