Bona fide Rule 191A compliance allowed export applications to be treated as filed on the original dates for rebate processing.

Bona fide compliance with Rule 191A was treated as sufficient where exporters sought permission before export, the department initially rejected the request, and ex post facto approval was later granted. Because the record showed confusion over the applicable export procedure, and the later correspondence confirmed an intention to proceed under Rule 191A, the applications were deemed to have been filed on the actual dates they were submitted. The matter was therefore to be processed on that basis, enabling rebate consideration in favour of the assessee.

---

---

Issues: Whether the exporters' applications for permission under Rule 191A could be treated as made on the dates on which their rebate claims and related communications were actually filed, in view of the department's initial rejection followed by ex post facto approval.

Analysis: The applicants had acted bona fide and had sought permission to follow the Rule 191A procedure before exporting the goods. The departmental record showed confusion in the treatment of their request: the application was first rejected, the appellate authority later held that Rule 191A applied to toothpaste and tooth powder, and permission to work under Rule 191A was subsequently granted retrospectively. Their later letters also clearly indicated an intention to proceed under Rule 191A, and the exports had already been effected under the prescribed export procedure. In these circumstances, the applications could fairly be treated as applications under Rule 191A from the dates they were filed.

Conclusion: The applications were directed to be deemed as made on 1-6-1990 and 7/14-8-1990, and the matter was to be processed accordingly, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The revision succeeded on the footing that the exporters' Rule 191A applications were to be treated as validly made on the dates of their actual filing, entitling them to processing of the rebate claim on that basis.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an assessee acts bona fide and the department itself creates uncertainty about the applicable export procedure, later ex post facto approval can justify treating the procedural application as having been made on the actual filing dates for substantive relief.

---