A Cessna 340, which has been stuck between Customs Commissionerate, Ahmedabad, and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in New Delhi for more than three years, has finally got a green signal to head back home to Texas, US.
However, the aircraft, worth Rs 1.5 crore, now needs Rs 50 lakh for repairs and another Rs 1 crore for paying parking charges at the airport, besides nearly Rs 60 lakh in custom duty.
The aircraft entered the Indian airspace on August 21, 2008 and landed at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad for the mandatory customs clearance.
The light-weight aircraft was procured on behalf of Bangalore-based Agni Aviation Consultants (AAC) on a 45-day lease for cloud-seeding demonstration at Gadag in Karnataka.
Local Congress leader H K Patil, known for his several agricultural initiatives, had organised the demonstration.
After getting the Customs clearance at the Ahmedabad airport, the flight landed at Bangalore airport for refuelling but was grounded as it developed technical snags. The cloud-seeding demonstration did not take place.
Later, AAC officials approached the DGCA, seeking permission to get repair parts
and a subsequent test flight to take back the aircraft to the US since the lease period was only for 45 days.
However, the permission was not granted. Nine months later, on May 29, 2009, the DGCA informed the Customs authorities in Bangalore that the AAC had falsely come up with the issue of technical snag with an intention of retaining the aircraft without paying the customs duty. Subsequently, the additional commissioner (Customs) in Ahmedabad seized the aircraft and imposed a duty of more than Rs 37 lakh on the aircraft.
After prolonged correspondence with the DGCA, the aviation regulator issued a letter on September 10, 2009, allowing AAC officials to carry out the test flight to ascertain the serviceability of the equipment.
However, by then the matter had reached Customs Commissionerate (Appeal) in Ahmedabad, which refused to let it go without claiming the customs duty.
Interestingly, while issuing the order in September 2011, Customs Commissioner (Appeal) P K Sinha said the value of the aircraft was lower than the combined outstanding dues to be collected from the AAC. Sinha, however, refuted the DGCA’s claim that the AAC wanted to retain the aircraft.
Captain Arvind Sharma, one of the partners at the AAC, said, “We have been told that after paying the duty, we can fly the aircraft back to the US and reclaim the customs duty. But the case doesn’t end here. I fell out with my business partner K T Sebestian. I have to negotiate with the owner of the aircraft to settle the matter for which I need at least Rs 1 crore,” said Sharma.
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