  The time taken by a wave packet to cross through a finite layered
$PT$-symmetric system is calculated by stationary phase method. We consider the
$PT$- symmetric system of fix spatial length $L$ consisting of $N$ units of the
potential system `$+iV$' and `$-iV$' of equal width `$b$' such that $L=2Nb$. In
the limit of large `$b$', the tunneling time is found to be independent of $L$
and therefore the layered $PT$-symmetric system display the Hartman effect. The
interesting limit of $N \rightarrow \infty$ such that $L$ remains finite is
investigated analytically. In this limit the tunneling time matches with the
time taken to cross an empty space of length $L$. The result of this limiting
case $N \rightarrow \infty$ also shows the consistency of phase space method of
calculating the tunneling time despite the existence of controversial Hartman
effect. The reason of Hartman effect is unknown to present day however the
other definitions of tunneling time that indicate a delay which depends upon
the length of traversing region have been effectively ruled out by recent
attosecond measurements.
