KOCHI: The Commissioner of Customs on Tuesday submitted before the Kerala High Court that Customs officials have the jurisdiction to examine cargo inside the International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam, operated by the India Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd (IGT).Assistant Commissioner of Customs Jacob Cherian filed the affidavit through counsel for Customs John Varghese in response to a petition filed by the IGT against the Customs’ move to withdraw its staff from the ICTT gate.The Customs said that the special economic zone port was handling more than 90 per cent of the domestic tariff area (DTA) cargo.At the ICTT, only international transshipment cargo could be granted the status of ‘authorised operations.’ DTA cargo handling could not be termed as authorised operations as no service was provided to persons of another member country. The SEZ is deemed to be a territory outside the Customs area only for undertaking authorised operations.Hence, the Customs Act-1962 is applicable to Vallarpadam ICTT. The affidavit pointed out that the IGT unit was operating both import and export cargo meant for importers and exporters in the DTA. The IGT was appointed as a custodian of the terminal and as a custodian, it was required to comply with the provisions of the Customs Act and Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations-2009.
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