Post-clearance amendment of bill of entry permitted when contemporaneous documents existed and no customs bar was shown.
Post-clearance amendment of a bill of entry is permissible under section 149 of the Customs Act where the request is supported by documentary evidence already in existence at the time of clearance. The High Court held that the authority had misdirected itself by treating GST law as a bar, when the proper enquiry was limited to section 149 and the availability of contemporaneous documents. As no absence of the required evidence was shown and no legal impediment was established, the refusal to amend could not stand and the rejection order was set aside.
Issues: Whether the amendment of the bills of entry under section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962 could be refused after clearance of the goods when the supporting documentary evidence was already in existence, and whether the impugned rejection order was sustainable.
Analysis: Section 149 permits amendment of a bill of entry after presentation, and after clearance of the goods such amendment is to be considered on the basis of documentary evidence that existed at the time of clearance. The rejection was found to proceed on an untenable premise that GST law prevented the amendment, whereas the proper enquiry was confined to the requirements of section 149. As no material showed absence of the requisite contemporaneous documents, and no legal impediment was established, the refusal to amend could not stand.
Conclusion: The challenge succeeded, the rejection order was set aside, and the respondent was directed to permit amendment of the bills of entry.
Final Conclusion: Amendment of the bills of entry was held permissible under section 149 on the basis of pre-existing documentary evidence, and the impugned refusal was quashed.
Ratio Decidendi: Post-clearance amendment of a bill of entry is permissible where the request is supported by documentary evidence in existence at the time of clearance, and such an amendment cannot be denied on an incorrect view that the governing customs provision bars it.
TaxTMI 
AI Drafter ✕
TaxTMI 
