9911796707
TMI Blog2024 (6) TMI 1012X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... es. The Appellant, made representation before Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Guwahati to allow them to rectify the mistake in the Bills of Export. He denied their request vide his Order dated 28/10/2010 on the ground that it amounted to conversion of Free Shipping Bills to Export Promotion Shipping Bills and the same cannot be allowed. Being aggrieved, the Appellants filed their Appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals). 2. The Commissioner (Appeals) vide OIA No. 44/PAT/Cus/Appeal/2011 dated 16/03/2011 has held that it is a case of inadvertent omission on the part of the Appellant and held that the Appellant should be allowed to rectify the Bills of Export in terms of Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962. This OIA was reviewed by the Committee and Commissioner and a decision taken not to file any Appeal against this OIA. After this, the Adjudicating Authority allowed the necessary correction to be done in all the 44 Bills of Export based on the documentary evidence submitted by the Appellant, vide his Order-in-Original dated 15/11/2011. This OIO was reviewed by the Commissioner of Customs and decision was taken to file the Appeal before Commissioner (Appeals). Accordingly, Reve ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2011 consequent to the OIA passed on 16/3/2011. He submits that on this ground itself the present Appeal is required to be allowed. 5. He also takes us through the second OIA No. 122/PAT/Customs/Appeal/2012 dated 25/05/2012 passed by the Commissioner (Appeals) wherein, he has clearly held that in the present case, it is not a case of conversion from Free Shipping Bill to another one for a specific scheme. It is merely a case of rectification/amendment of a minor technical error. Therefore, he has dismissed the Appeal filed by the Revenue. He submits that after this, OIA was litigated by the Department before Tribunal. The Tribunal had remanded the matter to the Adjudicating Authority. He submits that in the Impugned Order dated 29/9/2014, the Commissioner (Appeals) has failed to appreciate the factual details and has held that this is a case of conversion from Free Shipping Bill to Shipping Bill on account of Export Promotion and accordingly, she has allowed the Appeal filed by the Revenue. He submits that she has made an observation that OIA dated 16/3/2011 was accepted by the Committee of Commissioners but still she has ignored this fact while coming to her conclusion. In view o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the case of C.C.E. v. Madura Coats - 2007 (216) E.L.T. 86 (Tri.-Chennai), it was observed that once a decision is taken by the Committee of Commissioners to the effect that no appeal is to be filed, the same attained finality and the subsequent reopening and reviewing of the same cannot be permitted. Applying the ratio of the above decisions in the present case, we find that the impugned order having been accepted by the department, subsequent review of the same by a Committee (that too with divided opinion) was neither justified nor warranted. Once a conscious decision is taken on the legality or otherwise of an order passed by the adjudicating authority, whether such decision is right or wrong, the subsequent overruling of the same in exercise of the jurisdiction which stand conferred subsequently and which was not available in the relevant time can be said to be against all the basic principles of law and jurisprudence. [Emphasis supplied] 10. Though in this case, there was no attempt to have further review of the decision taken by the Committee, the very Review of the OIO passed consequent to the OIA passed amounts to overriding the Review of the earlier OIA. Therefore, the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion 149 of the Customs Act, 1962. The Revenue on the contrary has failed to produce any material evidence to prove the contrary. Therefore, in view of the above factual position of law, I upheld the order of the Assistant Commissioner as proper, legal and sustainable. Resultantly the Revenue Appeal stands dismissed. [Emphasis supplied] Order The order of the lower authority is upheld as proper and legal being enforced by material facts and documentary evidences. The Revenue appeal therefore stands dismissed. 12. Thus for the second time, the Commissioner (Appeals) has held that the present Appellants were eligible to get their Bills of Export rectified with the details of Advance Licenses so as to overcome the initial mistake committed by them. On the other hand, while going through the impugned OIA, it is seen that the Commissioner (Appeals) has not gone through the entire factual details and has not even considered the detailed findings given by the Adjudicating Authority vide his Order dated 15/11/2011 as well as the earlier Commissioner (Appeals) Order dated 25/5/2012 and has given a very cryptic non-detailed Order as under:- 3. Heard both sides & perused records. The ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ence an error sought to be amended. 14. In the light of the discussion as aforesaid, the rejection of the request for amendment by the respondent is set aside to be re-done de novo. This writ petition is allowed. 14. First of all, we find that the Appellant has shown the details of Advance License numbers in their Invoices and Packing list which are part of the Export documents. Their only mistake was not to have given the details of Advance Licenses in the Bills of Export (Shipping Bills). Amending the Shipping Bills/Bills of Export by adding the Advance Licence numbers after proper verification of the document would only be a minor rectification and would not be in the nature of amendment. 15. Even for a moment, if it is taken that this amounts to amending the Free Shipping Bill into Free Shipping in respect of the Export Promotion, as discussed above, the Tribunals and High Courts have been consistently holding that under Section 149, the proper officer has the power to carry out the amendment based on the documents which are available at the time of imports/exports. In this case, there is no doubt that such documents were available at the time of export itself and such In ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
