Mere stamp won’t do, Customs to burn ‘wrong’ India map

That’s what’s happened to a web-based global news and financial platform that feeds news agencies across the world. The agency’s New Delhi office was to receive some 300 brochures from its headquarters in USA detailing its operations and reach. Instead, it received a show-cause notice from Customs for importing “in contravention of the Import & Export (Control) Act, 1947,” imposition of a penalty of Rs 5,000 for the offence and, worse, information that the entire consignment would be burnt.

Last week, when the Customs Department at the cargo section of Delhi airport opened the consignment — it had been lying for a month and a half in its warehouse — and pulled out one of the 75-page brochures, it found spread across Pages 2 and 3 a world map showing the firm’s international network. The map showed India’s international boundary with Pakistan as the world sees it (without Pakistan Occupied Kashmir) and so was deemed “neither authentic nor correct.”

A show-cause was sent on February 22.

“They sent us a show cause notice and said they will have to burn the entire consignment. We suggested they either stamp the map as incorrect or even tear out the two pages across which the map is spread out but they refused to do so. Customs officials say we will have to forego this consignment. The fact that we will not even be commercially distributing these and only planned to use it internally and share rate lists with some of our corporate clients has not helped. If they do destroy the consignment it is a major loss of time for us and re-printing takes quite long”, said the agency’s senior executive.

He said they were seeking legal advice on the issue as they had been importing such maps for six years now.

“While we had maps showing our global network imported every year, these were physical maps. This time political maps were also published and that is what is holding back the consignment. However, the intent is not even remotely dangerous or malicious on our part”, the executive said.

Customs officials say the “destruction” of such a consignment is fully within rules. “Only a map certified by the Surveyor General of India can be published. If the map published in any printed material that is imported does not have that clearance, it is liable to be confiscated and destroyed under Section 11 of the Customs Act. It is fully within our purview to detain such material, issue show cause notice to the party importing it and to impose a penalty. There is also a Delhi High court order on this issue. In some cases the map is stamped to declare its inauthenticity subject to a close scrutiny — that is usually done for foreign news magazines but this being a brochure, we need to destroy it,” said A K Khanna, Assistant Commissioner (Technical), Customs department, IGI airport.

In 2004, on the issue of import and sale of Chinese-made toy globes incorrectly depicting India’s external boundaries, the Delhi High Court ruled that Customs officials should not permit imports of globes or maps which depict the territory of India incorrectly.