(1) This Act may be called the Land Customs Act, 1924.

(2) It extends to the whole of India 5[* * *] 6[* * *].

(3) It shall come into force on such 7date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, 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 (4 of 1924), and includes, in relation to any power or duty which the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, transfer from the Central Board of Revenue 8[and entrust to a State Government or an officer of a State Government under 9[Article 258(1) of the Constitution], that Government or officer, as the case may be];

(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 10Indian Tariff Act, 1894 (8 of 1894);

(e) foreign frontier means the frontier separating any foreign territory from any part of 11[India];

(f) foreign territory means any territory 12[* * *] which has been declared under Section 5 of the 13Indian Tariff Act, 1894 (8 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

14[* * *]

(1) The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, 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 it thinks fit to be Land Customs Officers.

(2) The Central Government may delegate 15[* * *] to the Chief Customs authority any power conferred upon it by sub-section (1), and 16[* * *] 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 incharge 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 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.

17[(1)] 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.

18[(2) Where any dutiable goods, or any goods in respect of which a notification under Section 19 of the Sea Customs Act, 1878 (8 of 1878) prohibiting the bringing or taking by land of such goods into 19[India] or any specified part thereof, has been issued, are passed by land out of any foreign territory and the Land Customs Officer is of opinion that an offence under sub-section (1) has been committed in respect of such goods and that the penalty provided in that sub-section is inadequate, he may make a complaint to a Magistrate having jurisdiction.

(3) Such Magistrate shall thereupon inquire into and try the charge brought against the accused person and, upon conviction, may sentence him to imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or to fine not exceeding one thousand rupees, or to both, and may confiscate the goods in respect of which the offence has been committed.]

No goods other than personal baggage or goods belonging to the 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 (26 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 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) reference to a foreign port shall be deemed to be 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 (8 of 1878), as applied for the purposes of this Act, or to this Act, as the case may require.

[Repealed by the Land Customs (Amendment) Act, 1937 (3 of 1937), Section 4.]

(See Section 9)

Sections 3-A, 4, 8 to 10, 21, 23, 25, 26, 29, 29-A, 29-B, 30 to 36, 37 (except the proviso), 38 to 40, Section 88, Section 167, Nos. 1, 8, 9, 37 to 40, 72 to 76, 76-A, 76-B, 77 to 81, Section 168 to 170, Section 170-A, 171, 171-A, 172 to 176, Section 178, Section 178-A, Section 179 to 181, 182 to 184, Section 186, Section 187, Section 187-A, Section 188 to 190, Section 190-A, Sections 191 to 197, and Sections 200 to 204.]

1. Substituted by the A.O. 1948 for British India .

2. The words the Provinces of omitted by the A.O. 1950.

3. Substituted by the A.O. 1948 for British India .

4. The words the Provinces of omitted by the A.O. 1950.

5. The words except the State of Jammu and Kashmir omitted by Act 41 of 1954, Section 2(2) and Schedule.

6. The brackets and words (except Aden) omitted by the A.O. 1937.

7. 13-12-1924, see Notification No. 5936, dated 9-12-1924, Gazette of India, 1924, Part I, p. 1067.

8. Substituted by the A.O. 1937 for to a Local Government, the Local Government or such officer as the Local Government may appoint in that behalf .

9. Substituted by the A.O. 1950 for Section 124(1) of the Government of India Act, 1935 .

10. See now Section 5 of the Indian Tariff Act, 1934 (32 of 1934).

11. Substituted by Act 25 of 1950, Section 11 and Schedule IV, for the territories comprised within Part A States and Part C States .

12. The brackets and words (other than territory forming part of a State in India) omitted by Act 3 of 1937, Section 3.

13. See now Section 5 of the Indian Tariff Act, 1934 (32 of 1934).

14. Clause (h) omitted by the A.O. 1937.

15. The words to any Local Government or omitted by the A.O. 1937.

16. The words the Local Government or omitted by the A.O. 1937.

17. Section 7 renumbered as sub-section (1) of that section by Act 19 of 1931, Section 2.

18. Added by Act 19 of 1931, Section 2.

19. Substituted by Act 25 of 1950, Section 11 and Schedule IV, for Part A States and Part C States .

20. Substituted by Act 35 of 1955, Section 2, for the original Schedule.