[Act No. 19 of 1924] [30th September,
1924] An
Act to consolidate, amend and extend the law relating to the levy of duties of
customs on articles imported or exported by land from or to territory outside
India. WHEREAS
it is expedient to consolidate, amend and extend the law relating to the levy
of duties of customs on articles imported or exported by land from or to
territory outside India; It
is hereby enacted as follows:- (1) This Act may be called the Land Customs Act, 1924. (2) It extends to the whole of British India (except
Aden). (3) It shall come into force on such date as the
Governor General in Council may, by notification in the Gazette of India,
appoint. In
this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,- (a) any reference to the passing or import or export of
goods "by land" shall be deemed to include the passing or import or
export of goods by any inland waterway constituting a foreign frontier or part
of a foreign frontier; (b) "Chief Customs-authority" means the
Central Board of Revenue constituted under the Central Board of Revenue Act,
1924, and includes, in relation to any power or duty which the Governor General
in Council may, by notification in the Gazette of India, transfer from the
Central Board of Revenue to a Local Government, the Local Government or such
officer as the Local Government may appoint in that behalf; (c) "Collector of Land Customs" means a
Collector of Land Customs appointed under section 3; (d) "dutiable goods" means any article on
which a duty of land customs is leviable by virtue of a notification issued
under section 5 of the Indian Tariff Act, 1894; (e) "foreign frontier" means the frontier
separating any foreign territory from any part of British India; (f) "foreign territory" means any territory
(other than territory forming part of a State in India) which has been declared
under section; 5 of the Indian Tariff! Act, 1894 (VIII of 1894), to be foreign
territory for the purposes of that Act; (g) "land customs area" means any area
adjoining a foreign frontier for which a Collector of Land Customs has been
appointed under section 3; and (h) "official Gazette" means, in relation to
a notification issued by a Local Government, the local official Gazette, and,
in relation to a notification issued by the Central Board of Revenue, the
Gazette of India, (1) The Governor General in Council may, by
notification in the Gazette of India, appoint, for any area adjoining a foreign
frontier and specified in the notification, a person to be the Collector of
Land Customs and such other persons as he thinks fit to be Land Customs
Officers. (2) The Governor General in Council may delegate to any
Local Government or to the Chief Customs-authority any power conferred upon him
by sub-section (i), and the Local Government or the Chief Customs-authority may
delegate to any Collector of Land Customs any power to appoint Land Customs
Officers which has been so delegated to it. The
Chief Customs-authority may, by notification in the official Gazette,- (a) establish land customs stations for the levy of
land customs in any land customs area, and (b) prescribe the routes by which alone goods, or any
class of goods specified in the notification, may pass by land out of or into
any foreign territory, or to-or from any land customs station from or to any
foreign frontier. (1) Every person desiring to pass any goods, whether
dutiable goods or not, by land out of or into any foreign territory shall apply
in writing, in such form as the Chief Customs-authority may by notification in
the official Gazette prescribe, for a permit for the passage thereof, to the
Land Customs Officer in charge of a land customs station established in a land
customs area adjoining the foreign frontier across which the goods are to pass. (2) When the duty on such goods has been paid or the
goods have been found by the Land Customs Officer to be free of duty, the Land
Customs Officer shall grant a permit certifying that duty has been paid on such
goods, or that the goods are free of duty, as the case may be, (3) Any Land Customs Officer, duly empowered by the
Chief Customs-authority in this behalf, may require any person in charge of any
goods which such Officer has reason to believe to have been imported, or to be
about to be exported, by land from, or to, any foreign territory to produce the
permit granted for such goods; and any such goods which are dutiable and which
are unaccompanied by a permit or do not correspond with the specification
contained in the permit produced, shall be detained and shall be liable to
confiscation : Provided
that nothing in this sub-section shall apply to any imported goods passing from
a foreign frontier to a land customs station by a route prescribed in that
behalf. (4) The Chief Customs-authority may, by notification in
the official Gazette, direct that the provisions of this section, or any
specified provisions thereof, shall not, in any land customs area specified in
the notification, apply in respect of goods of any class, or value so
specified. A
Land Customs Officer empowered in this behalf by the Chief Customs-authority
shall pass free of duty any goods imported or exported by land by any
passenger, if he is satisfied that the goods are the passenger's personal
baggage in actual use. Any
person who- (a) in any case in which the permit referred to in
section 5 is required, passes or attempts to pass any goods by land out of or
into any foreign territory through any land customs station without such
permit, or (b) conveys or attempts to convey to or- from any
foreign territory or to or from any land customs station any goods by a route
other than the route, if any, prescribed for such passage under this Act, or (c) aids in so passing or conveying any goods, or, knowing
that any goods have been so passed or conveyed, keeps or conceals such goods or
permits or procures them to be kept or concealed, shall
be liable to a penalty not exceeding, where the goods are not dutiable, fifty
or, where the goods or any of them are dutiable, one thousand rupees, and any
dutiable goods in respect of which the offence has been committed shall be
liable to confiscation. No
goods other than personal baggage or goods belonging to Government or mails
shall be delivered or passed at any land customs station, except with the
special permission of the Land Customs Officer in charge thereof,- (a) on any public, holiday within the meaning of
section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (XXVI of 1881), or on any day on which the passage and
delivery of goods at such land customs station has been prohibited by the Chief
Customs-authority by notification in the official Gazette, or (b) on any day except between such hours as the Chief
Customs-authority may, by a like notification, appoint. (1) The provisions of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 (VIII
of 1878), which are specified in the Schedule, together with all notifications,
orders, rules or forms issued, made or prescribed thereunder, shall, so far as
they are applicable, apply for the purpose of the levy of duties of land
customs under this Act in like manner as they apply for the purpose of the levy
of duties of customs on goods imported or exported by sea. (2) For the purpose of such application the said
provisions, notifications, orders, rules and forms may be construed with such
alterations as may be necessary or proper to adapt them for the said purpose,
but not so as otherwise to affect the substance thereof, and in particular- (a) references to bills of entry and to shipping bills
shall be deemed to be references, respectively, to applications for permits to
import and applications for permits to export such as are referred to in
section 5, (b) references to a Chief Customs Officer shall be
deemed to be references to a Collector of Land Customs, (c) references to a Customs Collector shall be deemed
to be references to a Land Customs Officer for the time being in charge of a
land customs station or duly authorised to perform all, or any special, duties
of an officer so in charge, (d) references to a custom-house shall be deemed to be
references to a land customs station, (e) references to a customs-port shall be deemed to be
references to a land customs area, (f) references to a foreign port shall be deemed to he
references to foreign territory, (g) references to goods brought by sea to, and to goods
shipped or brought for shipment at, a customs-port shall be deemed to be
references respectively to goods brought across a foreign frontier into a land
customs area and to goods brought to a land customs station for export, (h) references to Officers of Customs shall be deemed
to be references to Collectors of Land Customs or Land Customs Officers
appointed under this Act, (i) references to persons on board of any vessel or
boat, in any port or to persons landing shall be deemed to. be references to persons who have
entered a land customs area from foreign territory, and (j) references to "this Act" shall be deemed
to be references to the Sea Customs Act, 1878 (VIII of 1878), as applied for
the purposes of this Act, or to this Act, as the case may require. Notwithstanding
anything contained in section S of the Indian Tariff Act, 1894 (VIII of 1894),
nothing in the Madras Inland Customs, Act, 1844 (VI of 1844), or in the Bombay
Land-Customs Act, 1857 (XXIX of 1857), shall apply in respect of the levy or
collection of duties of customs on articles imported or exported by land from
or to any foreign territory as defined in this Act. THE SCHEDULE (See section 9) Provisions
Of The Sea Customs Act, 1878, Which Are Made Applicable For The Purpose Of The
Levy Of Duties Of Land Customs Sections
4, 8 to 10, 21, 23, 25, 26, 29 to 36, 37 (except the proviso), 38 to 40,
section 167, Nos. 1, 8, 9, 37 to 40 and 72 to 80, sections 169 to 176, 178 to
181, 182 to 184, 186 to 197 and 200 to 204.LAND CUSTOMS
ACT, 1924
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