Exporters win court case for MEIS benefits, court directs reconsideration of claims, emphasizing intent over technical errors.

The court ruled in favor of the exporters, directing the respondents to reconsider their claims for benefit under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS). The judgment emphasized that denying benefits solely due to a technical error in not checking a specific box was unjustified, especially when other details indicated the exporters' intent to claim the reward. The Customs Authorities were instructed to issue necessary certificates promptly, and the respondents were given a deadline to review the claims, highlighting that if the intent to claim the MEIS benefit was evident from the export details, the benefits should be granted.

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Issues:
Claiming benefit under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) due to technical error in checking the appropriate box on the web portal.

Analysis:
The judgment involves two writ petitions concerning the entitlement of exporters to benefit from the MEIS under the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20. The entitlement under the MEIS Scheme, as per paragraph 3.04 of the Foreign Trade Policy, is based on the realized FOB value of exports in free foreign exchange or as given in Shipping Bills in freely convertible foreign currencies. The procedure for claiming MEIS benefits is outlined in paragraph 3.14 of the Hand Book of Procedures, which requires exporters to declare their intent to claim rewards by marking "Y" for Yes in the Reward column of shipping bills. In these cases, the petitioners inadvertently omitted to check the box indicating their intention to claim the reward under the MEIS Scheme, leading to the system recording the default setting as "No." Consequently, their claims for benefits were disallowed by the respondents, citing the lack of indication of intent.

Upon examination, it was revealed that the exporters had clearly indicated their intention to avail the Export Promotion Scheme benefits in the description of goods column, despite not checking the specific box for MEIS benefits. The court held that the denial of export benefit claims solely based on a technical lapse of not checking a particular box was unjustifiable, especially when other details indicated the exporter's intent to claim the reward. The judgment directed the respondents to reconsider the petitioners' claims for export benefits, emphasizing that if the intention to claim the MEIS Scheme benefit was evident from the details provided at the time of export, the benefits should be granted. The Customs Authorities were instructed to issue necessary No Objection Certificates in favor of the petitioners within a week to facilitate the process, and the additional 5th respondent was given one month to review the claims after hearing the petitioners.

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