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57. In Crl.R.C.No. 619 of 2003, similar grounds have been raised by the petitioner.

58. In Crl.O.P.No. 4495 of 2004 which is against C.C.No. 35 of 1999 on the file of the learned Additional Special Judge for C.B.I. Cases, Chennai, the petitioner has been added as A5. According to him, the charges have been filed falsely against him which cannot withstand the judicial scrutiny and that the charges levelled against him are not commensurate with the duties and responsibilities cast on him.

59. When an importer's imported goods have arrived at the Port of calling, the importer, through their Customs House Agent, would file the Bill of Entry along with the connected documents like Import-Export Code No. , Bill of Lading, Invoice, Packing List, Purchase Order, Order of confirmation, LC, Country or Origin, Import Licence, Import Duty Exemption Entitlement Certificate, Import Books relating to Duty Exemption Entitlement Scheme, before the Import Department of the Customs Department, who will assign a Bill of Entry No. and date. Thereafter, the Customs House Agent will take it to the Appraising Department. The Appraising Department consists of Appraising Officers and is headed by an Assistant Collector, now renamed as Assistant Commissioner. In the Appraising Department, the Appraising Officer will register the documents presented by the Customs House Agent by affixing the official seal of the Customs Department and place them before the Appraisers, who are in the rank of Group-B Gazetted Officers. The Appraisers will thoroughly scrutinize the documents on their merits. One who appraises the value of the goods is designated as Appraiser. They will appraise the value of the goods and confirm the duty payable and send it to the Assistant Collector of Customs for counter-signature. The appraisers would also prepare necessary instructions for opening and examining the goods by the Docks Department after the counter-signature on the face of the original bill of entry is complied with. Then the same will be put up to the concurrent Audit Appraiser for audit purpose. In the instant case, the imported goods are eligible for duty exemption. They do not probe into the nomenclature of the goods imported by any importer, but they go by the documents presented before them. Once the Appraisers have perused, scrutinized and verified the documents with reference to the contents and narration therein and have satisfied themselves that the goods have been imported in accordance with the advance licence, they would sign the documents and place them before the Assistant Collector, now renamed as Assistant Commissioner for counter-signature of the documents and those documents are returned back to the Custom House Agent after the concurrent audit is completed by the Concurrent Audit Appraiser. The duties of the Assistant Collector/Commissioner end there. It was clearly an administrative duty discharged by the petitioner. The petitioner herein performed and discharged such kind of duties during the relevant point of time. The Appraising Department is like a tapal section in any office where its Clerk would register the documents before it. Only documents are scrutinized in the group.