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2021 (3) TMI 91 - HC - CustomsRejection of applications filed under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) - rejection on the ground of mis-declaration of intent by the petitioner and thereby depriving the petitioner benefit under the said scheme - HELD THAT:- It is an admitted position that petitioner committed an error while filling the shipping bills. Petitioner had actually intended to claim benefit under what is known as MEIS but while filling the shipping bills, petitioner had inadvertently marked “N” (for No) instead of “Y” (for Yes) in the declaration of intent column. Since the EDI system was followed online, corrections could not be done. In the case of non-EDI cases, under the provisions of section 149 of the Customs Act only manual corrections can be made by a party. Respondents' only contention is that since the entire procedure is followed by the system portal there can be no amendment in the shipping bills. Save and except this submission on behalf of the respondents there is no other challenge to the petitioner's case on merit. The facts in the present case are identical to the facts of Pasha International [2019 (2) TMI 1187 - MADRAS HIGH COURT] decided by the Madras High Court and there are no reason as to why the petitioner herein should not be extended the benefit under MEIS considering that the only lapse on the part of the petitioner was that it had inadvertently mentioned in the reward column “N” (for No) instead of “Y” (for Yes). This is a procedural defect and is curable considering the fundamental objective of the scheme under Chapter 3 of the FTP 2015-20. The basic objective of the Exports from India Schemes is to provide reward to the exporters and to promote manufacture and export of notified goods / products to notified markets. Once this is done, the party is entitled and eligible to claim its reward - In the instant case, while doing so, petitioner had inadvertently committed an error while filing up the claim form on the DGFT portal and entered its declaration of intent as “N” (for No) instead of “Y” (for Yes) resulting in rejection of petitioner's claim for reward under MEIS. Except for this inadvertent mistake, petitioner is otherwise eligible and entitled to the reward under MEIS. Such a procedural mistake on the part of petitioner should not deprive the petitioner from the benefit of the reward under MEIS. A similar situation was in fact considered by the respondents in respect of shipping bills for the period 01.04.2015 to 31.05.2015 at the time of inception of the FTP, when exporters had inadvertently marked “N” in the “reward item box” and wished to seek MEIS benefit. Public Notice 47/2015-20 dated 08.12.2015 was issued by the DGFT to give the benefit of MEIS reward in such cases. The petitioner is entitled to the reward under MEIS in respect of its shipping bills wherein exports of notified goods / products with ITC(HS) code to the notified markets have been carried out by the petitioner under the FTP 2015-20 - Petition allowed.
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