Appointment of Officers of Customs:
The relevant provisions are as under-
(1 ) Classes of Officers of Customs (section 3 ) :
- Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs
- Chief Commissioner of Customs
- Principal Commissioner of Customs
- Commissioner of Customs
- Commissioner of Customs (Appeals )
- Joint Commissioner of Customs
- Deputy Commissioner of Customs
- Assistant Commissioner of Customs
- Such other class of officers of customs as may be appointed for the purpose of this act.
Among the other classes of officers of customs, the following officers have been appointed:
- Appraisers of customs ,who do the assessment work of import and export goods ,including classification ,valuation and examination of the goods;
- Preventive officers of customs, who do the executive duties like –
- Boarding and checking ships and aircrafts
- Clearing passengers and crew and their baggage’s
- Supervision and control over loading and un loading of cargo
- Preventing smuggling by checking suspect
- Interrogating suspects /witnesses and investigation.
- Ministerial officers, who maintain records, keep accounts, etc.
- Chemical Examiner, who tests samples of imported or export cargo for determination of true character of the goods for proper classification and value, necessary for determination of custom duty.
(2 ) Powers of Officers of Customs ( section 5 )
(a ) Subject to such conditions and limitations as the Board may impose , an officer of customs may exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed on him under this Act.
(b) An officer of customs may exercise the powers and discharge the duties conferred or imposed under this act on any other officer of customs who is subordinate to him.
Provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 relating to appointment of customs ports and airports and warehousing stations.
The CBEC may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint the following-
- Ports and airports, which alone shall be customs ports or customs airport for the unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods or any class of such goods
- Places, which alone shall be inland container depots or air freight stations for the unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods or any class of such goods
- Places, which alone shall be land customs stations for the clearance of goods imported or to be exported by land or inland water or any class of such goods.
- Routes by which alone goods or any class of goods specified in the notification may pass by land or inland water into or out of India , or to or from any Land Customs Station, or to or from any, land frontier.
- Ports which alone shall be coastal ports for the carrying on of trade in coastal goods or any class of such goods with all or any specified ports in India.