But not without hiccups. The port trust authorities decided to play spoilsport by demanding that the customs pay rent for use of the seven sites for setting up EDI facilities. This was something the customs brass found hard to digest.

"The demand was unprecedented. This was the first time that the department had been told to pay rent for carrying out its sovereign and statutory function", a top customs official said.

The matter has finally been resolved following the intervention by Central Board of Excise and Customs chairman SD Mohile who wrote to the secretary in the ministry of surface transport. The Mumbai Port Trust is under the administrative control of surface transport ministry.

"The department has been paying rent everywhere for utilising land where it has office or storage space and does not carry out any checking of goods. It doesnot pay for using space to carry out its duty of checking either goods or passengers at ports of entry", the official said, adding "the EDI facility at the Mumbai Port trust is being commissioned to increase the efficiency of verification of goods."

EDI, which envisages filing and processing of documents electronically ensures faster clearance of cargo and reduces errors.

The move caught the customs officials off-guard as the department was already carrying out its work of checking goods at the port from 16 existing sites granted to it by the port trust, which it decided to vacate. "The department was told to pay rent only when it asked for seven fresh sites from the Trust for installing its EDI facilities. The idea was to consolidate the functions at the dock area", the official added.

The customs department proposes to install EDI terminals at all the major ports and airports by the end of this year, except the Mumbai Port Trust, where it will be completed by January-end.

The department whichcommissioned the EDI facility at Chennai port and airport and inland container depot (ICD) Ahmedabad on Tuesday, will be commissioning the facility at Calcutta on November 26. This will be followed by commissioning the facility at Cochin and Kandla port on November 30, Calcutta airport on December 4 and Goa airport on December 10.

The EDI facility is already commissioned at Sahar International airport in Mumbai and Nav Sheva.

Procedurally, the physical examination of the cargo is done at the dock or the airport and the customs officer uses the EDI facility to file his report which is electronically sent to the customs house.