THE MAHARASHTRA INDIAN-MADE FOREIGN LIQUOR (TRANSPORT AND EXPORT UNDER BOND) RULES, 1968

“Act” means the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949 ;

“ bonded warehouse” means a warehouse or part of a distillery appointed by the State Government as a bonded warehouse for the receipt and storage under bond of Indian made foreign liquor ;

“Custom Officer” means the Officer-in-charge of Customs Station;

“Customs Station” has the meaning assigned to it by the Customs Act, 1962 ;

“Form” means the form appended to these Rules ;

“Indian made foreign liquor” means any country liquor which is declared to be foreign liquor for the purposes of the Act by a notification under the proviso to clause (17) of section 2 of the Act, but does not include medicinal and toilet preparations containing alcohol ;

“Place of export” means the bonded warehouse in the State from which the Indian made foreign liquor is exported to a Customs Station in any other State in India ;

“Place of transport” means the bonded warehouse in the State from which the Indian made foreign liquor is transported to a customs Station therein.

 Every application for a transport-in-bond pass or export-in-bond pass shall contain the following particulars, namely :

(a)     The description                   of the Indian-made foreign liquor to

be transported or exported ;

(b)     The quantity                                                       

(c)     The alcoholic strength

(d)     The number and nature of receptacles or packages containing such liquor and the identification marks made thereon ;

(e)     The name of the Customs Station to which the consignment is to be transported or exported ;

(f)      The route by which the consignment is to be transported or exported ;

(g)     The name of the place to which the consignment is to be despatched ;

(h)     The name and address of the transporter or exporter, and his agent, if any;

(i)      The name and address of the consignee.

In the case of ¹[export-in-bond,] the exporter shall also attach with the application and import-in-bond pass or a no objection certificate from the Collector of the place where the Customs Station to which it is to be exported is situated.

   to execute a bond in From ‘ A’

  to produce a certificate from the Customs Office for dispatch of liquor from the customs Station; and,

 ²[administrative fees] and dues as may be demanded from his in accordance with the provisions of these Rules :

Provide that if the applicant is not a resident of the place of transport or the place of export, as the case may be, his agent at the place of transport of the place of export who is approved by the Collector may act for him. In such case, both the applicant and his agent shall be jointly and severally responsible for any amount which may ultimately fall due under the bond :

Provided further that the execution of the bond under this rule may be dispensed with in the case of any transporter or exporter of known good standing who deposits with the Collector a sum which in the opinion of the Collector is sufficient to cover the amount of dues payable by him; and recoveries of all sums payable by the transporter or exporter, as the case may be, made by deductions from the deposit in which event, the transporter or exporter shall make good the amount so deducted to restore the full amount of deposit.

The Collector shall not refuse to accept the bond executed by the applicant unless the applicant is given a reasonable opportunity to show cause against such refusal and the Collector shall record his reasons for the refusal.

The Collector may on the applicant complying with the provisions of rules 5, ²[and after collecting a administrative fees of rupees two per litre for Rectified Spirit and rupees ³[twenty five paise per litre for Extra Neutral Alcohol, as the case may be or advised by the Commissioner. from time to time] issue to him a transport-in-bond pass or an export-in bond pass, as the case may be, in Form ‘B’

Each pass issued under this rule shall be in four parts which shall be dealt with as under :

PART I shall be retained on the records of the officers issuing the pass ;

PART II shall be sent by post to the Customs Officer-in-chage of the Customs Station from which shipment of Indian-made foreign liquor is to take place ;

PART III, to together with the import-in-bond pass or the no objection certificate in case of export, shall be forwarded to the officer-in-charge of the bonded warehouse from which Indian-made foreign liquor is to be issued; and

PART IV shall be handed over to the applicant or his agent.

The transporter of exporter or his agent shall present Part IV of the pass to the Officer-in-charge of the bonded warehouse (hereinafter referred to as the said officer-in- charge) from which Indian-made foreign liquor is to be removed. Such officer shall compare Part IV with Part III and if he sees no objection issue the Indian-made foreign liquor from the bonded warehouse.

 The said officer-in-charge shall seal with his official seal each cask, drum or package containing Indian-made foreign liquor to be transported or exported, which shall also bear for the purpose of identification the number of the pass, the serial number of the casks, drums or packages, the kind, quantity and strength of the Indian-made foreign liquor contained therein, and the name of the Customs Station from which the consignment of Indian-made foreign liquor is to be despatched and the name of the place to which the consignment is to be despatched.

 The said officer-in-charge shall fill in the particulars under the head “Advised” on the reverse of Parts III and IV of the pass, complete the endorsements thereunder, and hand over Part IV together with the import-in-bond pass or the no objection certificate to the transporter or exporter, as the case may be, and forward by post Part III with a copy thereon, of the impression of the seal used in scaling the cask, drums and packages, to the Customs Officer-in-charge of the Customs Station from which dispatch of the Indian-made foreign liquor is to take place.

 When filling in the particulars ¹[referred to in] sub-rule (3), the strength to be shown in column 4 on the reverse of Parts III and IV of the pass under the head “Advised”, shall be the strength declared in the ¹[transporter’s or exporter’s ] application, as the case may be, and verified by the said officer-in-charge from previous records and columns 5 on the reverse of the said parts, shall be filled in accordingly.

The said officer-in-charge shall then allow the consignment to be removed from the bonded warehouse at the transporter’s or exporter’s risk and expense. He shall pay all warehouse dues, if any before the consignment is removed from warehouse.

The transporter or exporter shall remove the consignment under excise escort at his¹[expense] upto such distance as may be ordered by the Collector.

The transporter or exporter, as the case may be, or his agent, shall present to the Customs Officer-in-charge of the Customs Station of despatch the whole consignment for inspection along with Part IV of the pass.

The Customs Officer shall be entitled to see that the seals impressed by the said officer-in-charge are intact and tally with the specimen of the impression of the seal received by him under sub-rule (3) of rule 6. He shall also be entitled to see that the casks, drums and packages correspond with the description given in Part III of the pass received by him from the said officer-in-charge of the bonded warehouse from which the Indian-made foreign liquor was issued. In case, the seals impressed by the said officer-in charge are found to be tampered with or not tallying with the specimen impression of the seal received by him or if the casks, drums or packages do not correspond with the description given in Part III of the pass or if the consignment appears to be tampered with, the Customs Officer may break open all the casks, drums or packages or such of them as may be necessary in the presence of the transporter or exporter, as the case may be, or his agent and examine and find out the strength and the quantity or the contents of each of the casks, drums or packagess so opened.

After the consignment of the Indian-made foreign liquor is despatched, the trans- porter or exporter, as the case may be, or his agent shall obtain from the Customs Officer, Part IV of the pass with the endorsement at the end of the pass duly completed and signed and produce it within thirty days, in the case of transport and within sixty days in the case of export from the date on which it was passed for transport or export, as the case may be, before the Collector of the place in which the bonded warehouse from which the Indian made foreign liquor was removed, is situated and shall take back the import-in-bond pass or the no objection certificate, if any, attached to Part IV. He shall obtain from the Customs Officer, Part III of the pass duly completed and present it to the said officer-in-charge.

On production of Part IV of the pass under sub-rule(3) or rule 8, the Collector shall compare Part IV with Part III of the pass received by him, from the said officer-in-charge under rule 9, and Part I of the pass on the record in his office. If the certificate on the reverse of the Part IV of the pass endorsed by the Customs Officer shows that the consignment has been despatched in full and that no amount is reported to be due by the said officer-in-charge, the Collector ¹[shall cancel the bond and inform the transporter or exporter or his agent accordingly.]

In case of any deficiency, the Collector shall, unless the deficiency is satisfactorily explained, verify the dues calculated and reported by the said officer-in-charge under rule 9 and recover the amount due from the transporter or exporter, as the case may be, or his agent; and, on the recovery of the amount, ¹[cancel the bond and inform the transporter or exporter or his agent accordingly.

In the event of the transporter or exporter failing to carry the consignment to the Customs Station specified in the pass or, in the event of a breach by him of any of these rules, the Collector may levy on such consignment, the full duty at the rates in force at the time, the pass was issued or at the time when the shortage, if any, was noticed whichever the Collector decides to levy.

Nothing in this rule shall affect any further liability of the transporter or exporter to punishment under any of the provisions of the Act for a breach or these Rules or of the Act.