India's Faceless Customs System Under Scrutiny Amid Empty Query Pattern
India's innovative 'faceless' customs assessment system, designed to eliminate discretion and curb corruption by reducing human interface, is currently facing intense internal scrutiny. This follows the detection of a troubling pattern of near-empty queries raised during import clearances, which potentially stall shipments and undermine the reform's core objectives.
Pattern of Cryptic Entries
Internal reviews across key customs formations, including Hyderabad and Mumbai, have flagged numerous Bills of Entry containing queries with little to no substantive content. These entries often consist of just a few characters or terms such as 'Null', 'f/d', 'comma', and 'full stop'. According to sources within the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, senior officers have assessed these clusters as deliberate rather than accidental occurrences.
Documents reviewed at the national level describe these cryptic entries as tactical maneuvers employed by a section of officers to deliberately delay assessments. This practice increases cargo dwell time—directly contradicting the reform's mandate to speed up trade facilitation. The pattern suggests systematic attempts to circumvent the efficiency goals of the faceless assessment system.
Potential Circumvention of Anonymity Safeguards
Beyond the empty query pattern, the department is examining a more serious concern: whether officers have found ways to bypass the anonymity built into the faceless assessment system. Officials are probing whether the anonymity safeguards designed to prevent corruption are being systematically circumvented.
Sources indicate that some assistant commissioners and appraisers, including promoted IRS officers, allegedly raised irrelevant queries designed to serve as "signals" to importers while concealing the officer's identity. Because the system masks the assessing officer, importers would reportedly approach local officials to trace the source of these queries.
Informal Networks and Communication Channels
Investigators suspect that informal networks, including WhatsApp groups, may have been used to identify officers behind specific queries. Jurisdictional officers would reportedly share details in these groups, enabling participants to match queries with issuing officers. Multiple WhatsApp groups were allegedly maintained for this specific purpose, with officers across different jurisdictions using them to connect and share information.
Customs house agents were allegedly used as intermediaries in these networks, with bribes collected to secure clearances. Authorities are examining these informal communication channels, including possible unauthorized sharing of importer and exporter data. A criminal probe is reportedly under consideration to address these serious allegations.
Systemic Issues and Procedural Lapses
Minutes from a recent national assessment centers convenors' conference recorded repeated concerns over 'frivolous' queries consisting of just 0-3 or 3-6 characters. Officials noted that such entries did not indicate lack of competence but appeared intentionally designed to slow processing, serving as a new lever to delay assessments.
The review also highlighted significant procedural lapses, including failures to meet the mandatory three-hour window for responding to the first query after allocation. In some cases, Bills of Entry were not allocated at all because officers were 'not attending assessment groups'. Senior officials attributed these issues to weak supervision at deputy and assistant commissioner levels.
Additional Concerns and Administrative Gaps
Further concerns identified include inconsistent assessments across national assessment centers, lack of standardization in queries, and repeated piecemeal questioning for the same commodities despite clear board instructions. Existing vigilance action against errant officers was described as an insufficient deterrent to these practices.
Administrative gaps were also flagged, including inadequate training programs, insufficient nominations by chief commissioners, and heavy grievance loads. Approximately 90% of complaints received at Turant Suvidha Kendras relate to assessment issues, pointing to systemic stress within the customs clearance process.
Even routine monitoring remains cumbersome, with officers reporting that extracting pendency data and MIS reports from the ICES system can take hours or even months to complete. These operational challenges compound the systemic issues identified in the review.
Reform Implications
Together, these findings raise significant questions about whether a reform specifically designed to reduce human interface and accelerate trade facilitation is being undermined from within the system itself. The faceless assessment system, launched as a major anti-corruption initiative, now faces challenges that threaten its effectiveness and credibility.
The comprehensive review suggests that while the system has technological safeguards, human elements continue to find ways to manipulate processes. This situation calls for enhanced monitoring, stronger supervision mechanisms, and potentially revised procedural controls to ensure the reform achieves its intended objectives of transparency and efficiency in India's customs clearance operations.
