Quasi-judicial rejection of shipping bill conversion is appealable; conflicting public notice and circular required remand.

A communication rejecting conversion of a drawback shipping bill into a DEEC shipping bill, issued after personal hearing and deciding the request on merits, is a quasi-judicial order and therefore appealable. Where the request is linked to an earlier public notice and the effect of a later circular on that notice requires examination, the departmental authority must first reconsider the matter on merits. The proceedings were set aside and the matter remanded for a fresh speaking order after affording the appellant a reasonable opportunity of hearing.

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Issues: (i) whether the Commissioner's communication rejecting conversion of a drawback shipping bill into a DEEC shipping bill was an appealable quasi-judicial order; (ii) whether the request for conversion required fresh consideration on merits in light of the earlier public notice and the later circular.

Issue (i): whether the Commissioner's communication rejecting conversion of a drawback shipping bill into a DEEC shipping bill was an appealable quasi-judicial order.

Analysis: The letter rejecting the request was issued after a personal hearing and recorded a decision on the merits of the application. It was not a mere administrative reminder, but a communication embodying the Commissioner's adjudicatory determination on the request for conversion.

Conclusion: The communication was appealable, and the objection to maintainability was rejected.

Issue (ii): whether the request for conversion required fresh consideration on merits in light of the earlier public notice and the later circular.

Analysis: The request had been made with reference to the earlier public notice governing conversion between export promotion schemes. The later circular superseded earlier circulars on the subject, but the effect of that supersession on the earlier public notice and its applicability to the appellant's case required examination by the departmental authority in the first instance. The matter therefore called for a fresh decision after hearing the appellant and recording reasons.

Conclusion: The impugned proceedings were set aside and the matter was remanded for reconsideration on merits.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded by way of remand, with a direction for a fresh speaking order after affording a reasonable opportunity of hearing.

Ratio Decidendi: An order passed after personal hearing that finally determines a request on merits is appealable, and where the effect of a later circular on an earlier governing public notice requires adjudication, the matter should be remanded for fresh consideration with reasons and hearing.

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