HC orders Mumbai customs to release feeding tubes imported by cancer survivor from US

Earlier, the petitioner, an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder, had moved the court and stated in his plea that in December 2016 he was diagnosed with oral cancer and due to remedial surgical operations his intake of food is only possible through a feeding tube.

The Bombay high court (HC) on Thursday directed the Customs authorities to hand over the consignment of feeding tubes, which were imported by a petitioner, a cancer survivor, from the United States of America (USA) because of their unavailability in the country, to his lawyers within the next 24 hours.

He is compelled to import the feeding tubes from the USA since they are not available in the country.. (HT photo)

A two-member division bench of the court, comprising justices SJ Kathawalla and justice NR Borkar, ordered DHL Express (India), a courier company, to forthwith submit a bill of entry to the Customs authorities for the consignment’s clearance and deliver it to the petitioner’s lawyers Crawford Bayley & Co., or their representative, within the next 24 hours.

Earlier, the petitioner, an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder, had moved the court and stated in his plea that in December 2016 he was diagnosed with oral cancer and due to remedial surgical operations his intake of food is only possible through a feeding tube.

He is compelled to import the feeding tubes from the USA since they are not available in the country.

He informed the court that he had placed a fresh order for four boxes of feeding tubes from the USA, but the assistant commissioner of customs, whose office is located at Air Cargo Complex at Sahar in Andheri, has withheld the consignment “on grounds that are unclear to the petitioner”.

The petitioner’s counsel, advocate Prashant Asher, on Tuesday had pleaded for an urgent order from the court, citing that the cancer survivor has a limited stock of feeding tubes, which would be exhausted in the next few days, prompting the bench to issue a notice to the Customs authorities to explain the difficulty and delay in releasing the consignment.