TMI Blog2024 (3) TMI 460X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nitely. It is not open to the department to raise a plea in this appeal that a direction should not be issued by the Tribunal for deciding the appellant as it may ultimately lead to a situation that the application filed by the appellant u/s 149 of the Customs Act would remain undecided as the Deputy Commissioner will not decide and the Tribunal cannot issue a direction. A statutory duty is cast upon the Deputy Commissioner to decide the application at the earliest and the said application cannot be kept pending indefinitely. It is the contention of the appellant that the application for amendment of the Bills of Entry u/s 149 of the Customs Act was filed on 11.07.2019, but it has not been decided as yet and in fact the Commissioner (Appeal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and had cleared them after payment of duty as per the self-assessment. The appellant, however, subsequently realized that the said item was incorrectly classified and that it would correctly be classifiable under CTI 8517 62 90 of the Tariff Act attracting Nil Basic Customs Duty in terms of Serial No. 13 of the Notification dated 01.03.2005. Accordingly, the appellant filed a refund claim in respect of the eleven Bills of Entry before the Assistant Commissioner of Customs (Refund) under section 27 of the Customs Act, 1962 [the Customs Act] . The refund applications were rejected by order dated 25.07.2017 holding that the Bills of Entry had not been re-assessed and that the appellant had also failed to submit certificates from statutory aud ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... , the Commissioner (Appeals) observed that the request of the appellant for directing the Deputy Commissioner to decide the application filed for amendment of the Bills of Entry under section 149 of the Customs Act cannot be entertained in the absence of a provision under the Customs Act to issue such a direction. 4. Shri B.L. Narasimhan, learned counsel for the appellant has very fairly stated that in view of the decision of the Supreme Court in ITC, it will not be appropriate for him to make submission on the merits of the appeal, but a direction that he seeks in the present appeal is that the Deputy Commissioner, before whom the application dated 11.07.2019 was filed under section 149 of the Customs Act for amendment of the Bills of Entr ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n should be issued to the Deputy Commissioner to decide pending application filed by the appellant under section 149 of the Customs Act for amendment in the Bills of Entry. 9. Section 149 of the Customs Act, on which reliance has been placed, is as follows :- 149. Amendment of documents Save as otherwise provided in sections 30 and 41, the proper officer may, in his discretion, authorise any document, after it has been presented in the customs house to be amended in such form and manner, within such time, subject to such restrictions and conditions, as may be prescribed: PROVIDED that no amendment of a bill of entry or a shipping bill or bill of export shall be so authorised to be amended after the imported goods have been cleared for home ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y . 11. The distinction sought to be drawn by the learned authorized representative appearing for the department is mis-conceived. Once an application for amendment has been filed, it is the duty of the Adjudicating Authority to decide it in view of the specific provisions contained under section 149 of the Customs Act and the said application cannot be kept pending indefinitely. It is not open to the department to raise a plea in this appeal that a direction should not be issued by the Tribunal for deciding the appellant as it may ultimately lead to a situation that the application filed by the appellant under section 149 of the Customs Act would remain undecided as the Deputy Commissioner will not decide and the Tribunal cannot issue a di ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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