Drawback claim on free shipping bill rejected where section 76 market-price bar was not met and post-export conversion failed.

Conversion of a free shipping bill into a drawback shipping bill was impermissible where the claim was made only after export of the same re-exported machine. The drawback scheme required the exported goods' market price to be ascertainable so that the bar in section 76(1) could be excluded before drawback under section 74 was considered. A post-export amendment under section 149 could not override that substantive restriction, and the cited circulars and decisions were inapplicable because they did not address section 76. The relief granted by the lower appellate authority was therefore unsustainable, and drawback could not be allowed.

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Issues: Whether conversion of a free shipping bill into a drawback shipping bill was permissible and whether drawback under section 74 could be granted when the market price requirement under section 76 was not satisfied.

Analysis: The imported machine was re-exported under a free shipping bill, and although the goods were identified as the same goods earlier imported, the export was not accompanied by any claim for drawback. The claim for conversion was made only after export. The governing scheme required the market price of the exported goods to be ascertainable so that the prohibition in section 76(1) could be excluded before drawback could be considered under section 74. An amendment under section 149 could not overcome the substantive bar created by section 76(1). The cited circulars and decisions did not consider the effect of section 76 and were therefore not applicable to the controversy.

Conclusion: Conversion of the free shipping bill into a drawback shipping bill was not permissible, and drawback under section 74 could not be granted. The relief granted by the lower appellate authority was unsustainable.

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