Legal principle

Once exports are genuine and fall within the notified category, inadvertent procedural lapses that have been rectified under statutory authority (such as amendment of shipping bills under Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962) cannot be allowed to defeat the exporter's substantive entitlement under a beneficial scheme like MEIS, and administrative technology must aid, not obstruct, the implementation of the law.

Court decision

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal: it set aside the Bombay High Court's judgment dated 02.08.2021, quashed the PRC's rejection, and directed the respondents to process the appellant's MEIS claim on the basis of the amended shipping bills and pass appropriate orders in accordance with law within twelve weeks; no costs were imposed, but the Union (through DGFT and CBIC) was called upon to take corrective measures, by instructions or technological adjustments, to prevent recurrence of such disputes.

Facts

The appellant, M/S Shah Nanji Nagsi Exports Pvt. Ltd., a private company exporting corn starch, filed 54 shipping bills between 22.07.2017 and 05.10.2017 under Serial No. 467 of Appendix 3B to the FTP 2015-20, making it eligible for the MEIS incentive under Chapter 3 of the FTP. The shipping bills were filed electronically on ICEGATE through the appellant's customs broker, who failed to change the default declaration of intent from 'No' to 'Yes', preventing transmission to the DGFT repository and blocking electronic processing of the MEIS claim. On the appellant's application, the Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Mundra, by order dated 08.06.2018, allowed amendment of all shipping bills under Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962, substituting 'Yes' for 'No'. DGFT nonetheless stated the system permitted no manual intervention, and the Policy Relaxation Committee rejected the claim by a cryptic email dated 15.03.2019 without reasons or hearing; the Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) then dismissed the appellant's writ petition on 02.08.2021, relegating it to remedies against the broker.

Key provisions

• Section 149, Customs Act, 1962 — Amendment of documents