Entitlement to MEIS benefits despite manual export documentation; claims must be considered on merits and manual submissions allowed.

Where exports are validly effected on the strength of bills of export, procedural electronic requirements such as e-EDI registration or e-BRC issuance cannot be invoked to deny entitlement to MEIS benefits; the principle of parity and merit-based consideration governs. Applying that principle, claims arising from manual/non-EDI bills should be processed on merits, permitting manual submission or correction of documents, and administrators must not summarily reject MEIS claims solely for non-submission via the online portal. The petitioner is therefore entitled to have its MEIS claim considered and to submit manual supporting documents.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner is entitled to consideration for Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) benefits despite filing manual/non-EDI bills of export and inability to submit e-BRC details through the DGFT e-Com portal.

Analysis: The Court examined prior decisions of coordinate and other High Courts which have held that where exports are validly effected on the strength of bills of export, procedural requirements such as e-EDI registration or issuance of e-BRCs cannot be used to deny statutory benefits under schemes like MEIS. The Court noted directions in earlier Division Bench decisions permitting manual transmission or correction of bills and mandating processing of MEIS claims where entitlement exists. Applying those precedents and the principle of maintaining parity in treatment, the Court found that the petitioner's inability to complete the online application due to non-issuance of e-BRCs (attributable to manual bills) should not result in summary rejection of the claim.

Conclusion: The petitioner is entitled to have its MEIS claim considered on merits and the petitioner shall be permitted to submit manual application and supporting documents; the respondents shall not reject the claim solely on the ground of non-submission through the online process and shall consider the claim in accordance with extant policy. The minutes dated 09.06.2020 are set aside and the petition is disposed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where exports are validly effected on the strength of bills of export, procedural or electronic compliance requirements (such as e-EDI registration or e-BRC issuance) cannot be invoked to deny entitlement to benefits under MEIS; administrative authorities must consider such claims on merits and permit manual submissions or corrections to ensure parity of treatment.

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