Case Law Details
Adroit Industries (India) Ltd. Vs Union of India (Madhya Pradesh High Court)
Facts of the case are not in dispute to the effect that the petitioner during the relevant period i.e. 2015-20 was entitled to avail the benefit of MEIS but could not avail of such benefit as the concerned staff did not declare the intention by ticking or marking “Y” (for Yes) in the shipping bills.
It is not in dispute that the petitioner submitted a representation to the Policy Relaxation Committee and the said Committee after going through the submissions made and the relevant provisions of the scheme have found that in the shipping bills “Y” (for Yes) was not marked/ ticked in the reward column and the system automatically treated the same for “N” (for No) to get the benefit of the scheme. As far as the role of DGFT is concerned, as per the policy, unless the DGFT gets the shipping bills amended from the Customs Department, no benefit under the scheme can be extended. Therefore, respondents No.2 to 4 are right in contending that the impugned shipping bills are issued by the Customs Department and could not have been amended by the Customs Department unless and until the petitioners could have got electronic data of shipping bills transmitted to the DGFT server from the Customs Department, the claim of the petitioners could have been considered by the Policy Relaxation Committee at the relevant point of time. As per HBP Chapter 3, Clause 3.13 provides validity period and revalidation and according to which, Duty Credit Scrip issued on or after 1.1.2016 under Chapter 3 shall be valid for a period of 24 months from the date of issue and must be valid on the date on which actual debit of duty is made. Revalidation of Duty Credit Scrip shall not be permitted unless covered by Paragraph 2.20(c) of HBP. Clause 3.15 provides the last date of filing of the application for Duty Credit Scrips and according to which, the application shall be filed within a period of 12 months from the date of LEO date or 3 months from the date of uploading of EDI shipping bills on to the DGFT server by Customs. The Commissioner of Customs issued Public Notice No.88/2017 dated 5.7.2017 prescribing the procedure for amendment/conversion of the shipping bills from one scheme to another scheme and according to which the post-shipment amendments shall ordinarily be examined and disposed of within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of the request from the CB/exporter and in case of delay beyond the stipulated period, the CB/exporter may approach the JC/ADC concerned to resolve the matter.
The petitioner has only challenged the action of the DGFT in this petition by which the claim has been rejected. As held above, the DGFT has rightly declined on the basis of the bills received in the server from the Customs Department. Therefore, the petitioners ought to have approached the Customs Department for correction of the shipping bills and after such correction in the shipping bills, the DGFT get jurisdiction or authority to examine the matter. Hence no relief can be granted to petitioners in this writ petition hence the writ petition is dismissed However petitioners shall be at liberty to approach respondent No.5 seeking rectification/correction in shipping bills online. Thereafter, respondent No.5 is directed to consider the claim of the petitioners by an appropriate committee as per law and the scheme.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF MADHYA PRADESH HIGH COURT
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