Owner’s right to deal with warehoused goods [Section 64]:
Section 64 provides as follows: With the sanction of the proper officer, and on payment of the prescribed fees, the owner of any goods either before or after warehousing the same-
(a) inspect the goods
(b) separate damaged or deteriorated goods from the rest;
(c) sort the goods or change their containers for the purpose of preservation, sale, export or disposal of the goods;
(d) deal with the goods and their containers in such manner as may be necessary to prevent loss or deterioration or damage to the goods
(e) show the goods for sale; or
(f) take samples of goods without entry for home consumption, and if the proper officer so permits, without payment of duty on such samples.
When the imported goods are warehoused, the temporary possession and the custody of the goods are passed on to the warehouse keeper. However the remaining titular rights of the goods vest with the owner. Thus the owner has every access to the goods. In the course of his dealings with the goods, he may be required to
(i) see and inspect the goods;
(ii) ensure that the goods do not deteriorate or get damaged during storage in the warehouse;
(iii) if some goods or some part of goods is already damaged, he has to segregate them from the good ones, and take appropriate measures to dispose them to the best advantage;
(iv) if any container of the goods is damaged and requires repair or replacement, the owner will have to attend to these requirements;
(v) again if the goods require to be repacked or the containers changed for the purposes of export of the goods or disposal for home consumption he should be permitted to carry out such operations;
(vi) show the goods to prospective buyers or local consumers for sale;
(vii) draw samples to check the quality of the goods;
(viii) draw such samples to show to prospective buyers or local consumers.
The only restriction on all these operations is that such operation should not cause any damage or deterioration to the goods. If such warehoused goods are so damaged or deteriorated, that the value of the goods depreciates, the duty leviable on the goods will come down and there will be loss of Government revenue.