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2022 (12) TMI 983 - AT - CustomsAmendment in the shipping bill - legislative design of section 149 of Customs Act, 1962 amenable to stretching beyond that suggested by the phraseology to consider consequences as essential to disposal of requests preferred for amendment - HELD THAT:- The amendment sought by the appellant does not involve change of any of the particulars mandated for inclusion under the authority of section 50 of Customs Act, 1962. Nor is there any plea for alteration of endorsement, if any, made in the shipping bills under the authority of section 51 of Customs Act, 1962. All that the appellant seeks is the substitution of ‘N’ with ‘Y’ in these bills and, that too, owing to manual facilitation not available as alternative, solely for the purpose of making shipment particulars accessible to the licencing authority. Cavil of the appellant is that the denial of authorization to alter the option in the impugned shipping bills is improper and discriminatory as several decisions cited supra have held otherwise. The statutorily-mandated inclusions in shipping bills, of any hue, are borne within the regulations for implementation of section 50 of Customs Act, 1962; any other is mere ‘piggyback riding’ prompted by convenient proximity of transaction of relevance which, in the impugned instances, is the trans-authority seepage of information. The ‘subsequent’ authority conducts its own post-sanction verification for maintaining the integrity of the scheme without recourse to either the ‘preceding’ authority or its transactional engagement with exporter. Failure on the part of the appellant to indicate the desired option in the impugned shipping bill has not vitiated the clearance of the goods covered by the shipping bills or of exports having been effected; the only consequence has been the impassability of the data relating to these exports to the ‘electronic space’ dominated by the authority competent to grant the reward which they claim to be eligible for and which is yet to be determined. It would appear from the contents of the impugned order and the submissions of Learned Authorized Representative that the onus devolving on the applicant to produce documentary evidence of intent to avail the benefit accruing from ‘merchandise exports from India scheme (MEIS)’ on exports effected by them has drawn sustenance from two public notices issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and without considering the lack of significance therein, by assigning or by implication, to the assessment responsibility, or the gateway positioning, of customs authorities. Neither did the public notices seek to draw upon the statutory power of amendment conferred by the customs statute for regularization within the initial window of opportunity - The amendment, which merely has the consequence of data transference for informed decision making on eligibility for reward by competent authority, should have been permitted unless established evidence exists that the goods were not in conformity with details furnished in the shipping bills. No notice to that effect had been issued to enable refuting of such presumption. Appeal allowed.
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