The Chief Commissioner of Chennai Customs Zone has the second-highest quantum of arrears of custom duty totalling ₹3,089 crore in the financial year 2017-18 after Ahmedabad, according to a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
Out of the total, ₹2,470 crore is a sum under dispute, and ₹619 crore is the amount not under dispute, according to the CAG report for the year ending March 2018. The report contains significant results of the compliance audit of the Department of Revenue – Customs, under the Ministry of Finance and the Director General of Foreign Trade, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
The report was recently tabled in Parliament.
The time-wise analysis of arrears of amount not under dispute revealed that ₹269 crore has been pending for less than five years, ₹181 crore has been pending for over five years and ₹169 crore has been due for more than 10 years, under the Chennai Customs Zone.
Of the amount under dispute, ₹1,793 crore has been pending for less than five years, ₹368 crore for over five years and ₹309 crore for more than 10 years.
The CAG report also pointed to lapses in the levying of anti-dumping duty on certain goods. For instance, it said nylon filament yarn originating in, or exported from China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea and Indonesia and imported into India is subject to anti-dumping duty at the rate varying between USD 0.20 to 1.51 per kg depending upon combinations of the producer and exporter. A total of 23 consignments of nylon filament yarn imported (July 2015 to January 2018) from China, Korea and Indonesia through Chennai Sea Commissionerate and ICD, Patparganj although correctly classified, were cleared without levy of applicable anti-dumping duty of ₹1.33 crore, the report said.
Meanwhile, it said imports of motor spirit were cleared without levying additional duty of customs. ‘Alkylate’, also known as ‘green petrol’ is 99% cleaner than regular petrol and is used to run boat engines, motorbikes, go-karts, mopeds etc. An additional duty of customs at the rate of ₹6 per litre is applicable as per a notification dated March 1, 2015, it said. In January 2017, an importer imported two consignments of Alkylate valued at ₹1,11.86 crore through Sea Customs, Chennai. The additional duty of customs at ₹6 per litre, applicable to petrol was not levied. The non-levy of additional duty of customs resulted in short levy of duty of ₹17.60 crore.
On this being pointed out, the department stated that demand notices have been issued to the importer and adjudication proceedings were in progress.