Principal Commissioner of Customs Vs E-Land Apparel Ltd. (CESTAT Bangalore)
Summary: The appeal concerned whether amendment of shipping bills could be allowed under Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962 for changing the scheme code from Scheme Code 19 (Drawback) to Scheme Code 60 (RoSCTL). The Respondent, engaged in manufacturing and export of knitted and woven apparel, had effected exports under 211 shipping bills between 05.03.2019 and 31.01.2020, including 67 shipping bills from Bangalore port. The Respondent had declared intent to claim MEIS benefits but did not declare intent to claim RoSCTL benefits. Following the retrospective withdrawal of the Drawback MEIS scheme for the apparel sector through Public Notice No. 58/2015 N 2020 dated 29.01.2020, the Respondent stated that it was entitled to alternative Drawback RoSCTL benefits of Rs. 43,96,023.39/-, but the benefit could not be processed due to the scheme-code mismatch.
The Revenue contended that Section 149 permitted amendment subject to documentary evidence existing at the time of export and relied upon Circular No. 36/2010-Cus dated 23.09.2010, which prescribed a three-month period for conversion. The Revenue submitted that the Respondent’s request dated 17.11.2021 was made after approximately 1 year 10 months to 2 years 7 months from the relevant shipping bills. The Revenue also relied on Government of India Vs. Citedal Fine Pharmaceuticals-[1989 (42) ELT 515 (SC)].
