Application for settlement of cases.

¹[(1) Any importer, exporter or any other person (hereinafter referred to as the applicant in this Chapter) may, in respect of a case, relating to him make an application, before adjudication to the Settlement Commission to have the case settled, in such form and in such manner as may be specified by rules, and containing a full and true disclosure of his duty liability which has not been disclosed before the proper officer, the manner in which such liability has been incurred, the additional amount of customs duty accepted to be payable by him and such other particulars as may be specified by rules including the particulars of such dutiable goods in respect of which he admits short levy on account of misclassification, under-valuation or inapplicability of exemption notification ²[or otherwise] and such application shall be disposed of in the manner hereinafter provided :

Provided that no such application shall be made unless, -

³[(a) the applicant has filed a bill of entry, or a shipping bill, or a bill of export, or made a baggage declaration, or a label or declaration accompanying the goods imported or exported through post or courier, as the case may be, and in relation to such document or documents, a show cause notice has been issued to him by the proper officer;]

(b)   the additional amount of duty accepted by the applicant in his application exceeds three lakh rupees; and

(c)   the applicant has paid the additional amount of customs duty accepted by him along with interest due under ⁴[section 28AA] :

Provided further that no application shall be entertained by the Settlement Commission under this sub-section in cases which are pending in the Appellate Tribunal or any court :

Provided also that no application under this sub-section shall be made in relation to goods to which section 123 applies or to goods in relation to which any offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (61 of 1985) has been committed :

Provided also that no application under this sub-section shall be made for the interpretation of the classification of the goods under the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975).]

⁵(1A) [***]

⁶(2) [***]

(3) Every application made under sub-section (1) shall be accompanied by such fees as may be specified by rules.

(4) An application made under sub-section (1) shall not be allowed to be withdrawn by the applicant.

⁷(5) Any person, other than an applicant referred to in sub-section (1), may also make an application to the Settlement Commission in respect of a show cause notice issued to him in a case relating to the applicant which has been settled or is pending before the Settlement Commission and such notice is pending before an adjudicating authority, in such manner and subject to such conditions, as may be specified by rules.

Note:

1. Substituted by Act 22 of 2007, section 101, or sub-section (1) (w.e.f. 01.06.2007). Earlier sub-section (1) was amended by Act 10 of 2000, section 86 (w.e.f. 12.05.2000). Sub-section (1), before substitution by Act 22 of 2007, stood as under:

(1) Any importer, exporter or any other person (hereinafter in this Chapter referred to as the applicant) may, at any stage of a case relating to him, make an application in such form and in such manner as may be specified by rules, and containing a full and true disclosure of his duty liability which has not been disclosed before the proper officer, the manner in which such liability has been incurred, the additional amount of customs duty accepted to be payable by him and such other particulars as may be specified by rules including the particulars of such dutiable goods in respect of which he admits short levy on account of misclassification or otherwise of goods, to the Settlement Commission to have the case settled and such application shall be disposed of in the manner hereinafter provided-

 Provided that no such application shall be made unless -

(a)  the applicant has filed a bill of entry, or a shipping bill, in respect of import or export of goods, as the case may be, and in relation to such bill of entry or shipping bill or a show cause notice has been issued to him by the proper officer;

(b)  the additional amount of duty accepted by the applicant in his application exceeds two lakh rupees:

Provided further that no application shall be entertained by the Settlement Commission under this sub-section in cases which are pending in the Appellate Tribunal or any court:

Provided also that no application under this sub-section shall be made in relation to goods to which section 123 applies or to goods in relation to which any offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (61 of 1985), has been committed :

Provided also that no application under this sub-section shall be made for the interpretation of the classification of the goods under the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975).

2. Substituted by the Act 14 of 2010, section 57, for but excluding the goods not included in the entry made under this Act (w.e.f. 08.05.2010).

3. Substituted by Act 25 of 2014, section 84(i), for clause (a) (w.e.f. 06.08.2014). Clause (a), before substitution, stood as under:

(a)  the applicant has filed a bill of entry, or a shipping bill, in respect of import or export of such goods, as the case may be, and in relation to such bill of entry or shipping bill, a show cause notice has been issued to him by the proper officer;.

4. Substituted by Act 25 of 2014, section 84(ii), for section 28 AB (w.e.f. 06.08.2014)

5. Sub-section (1A) omitted by Act 20 of 2015, section 86 (w.e.f. 14.05.2015). Sub-section (1A), before omission stood as under:

(1A) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an application was made under sub-section (1) before the 1^st day of June, 2007 but an order under sub-section (1) of section 127C has not been made before the said date, the applicant shall within a period of thirty days from the 1^st day of June, 2007 pay the accepted duty liability failing which his application shall be liable to be rejected.

6. Sub-section (2) omitted by Act 25 of 2014, section 84(iii). Sub-section (2), before omission, stood as under:

(2) Where any dutiable goods, books of account, other documents or any sale proceeds of the goods have been seized under section 110, the applicant shall not be entitled to make an application under sub-section (1) before the expiry of one hundred and eighty days from the date of the seizure.

7. Inserted by the Finance Act, 2017, Section 106.