Post-export shipping bill amendment allowed where documentary evidence established RoSCTL entitlement and procedural scheme-code error caused no prejudice.

Post-export amendment of shipping bills was held permissible under Section 149 of the Customs Act where the exporter sought correction of an inadvertent scheme-code entry from Drawback to Drawback and RoSCTL. The later 2022 post-export conversion regulations were treated as inapplicable because the exports and LEOs predated them. The statutory power under Section 149 could not be curtailed by earlier circulars where documentary evidence already supported RoSCTL entitlement, no adverse material existed against the shipping bills, and the correction would not prejudice customs assessment. Rejection of the amendment was therefore unsustainable, and the exporter was entitled to claim the appropriate export incentive.

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Issues: Whether the exporter's request to amend the shipping bills by converting the scheme code from Drawback to Drawback and RoSCTL was permissible under Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962.

Analysis: The request concerned correction of an inadvertent scheme-code entry in shipping bills already supported by export documents. The time-limit-based restriction introduced later by the Shipping Bill (Post Export Conversion in Relation to Instrument Based Scheme) Regulations, 2022 was held inapplicable because the relevant exports and LEOs predated those regulations. The earlier circular framework governing conversion of shipping bills could not defeat the statutory power under Section 149, particularly where the goods exported were undisputedly covered by the RoSCTL scheme, no adverse material was shown against the shipping bills, and the record did not support the view that the conversion would change the matter into a more rigorous examination category. The entitlement to the substantive export benefit could not be denied merely because of a procedural mistake in the declared scheme code.

Conclusion: The conversion sought by the exporter was allowable and the rejection of amendment was unsustainable; the issue was decided in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The impugned rejection of the request for conversion of the shipping bills was set aside, and the exporter was held entitled to seek amendment for claiming the appropriate export incentive under the RoSCTL scheme.

Ratio Decidendi: A post-export amendment of shipping bills under Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962 may not be denied on the basis of procedural error alone where the exporter's entitlement is otherwise established from pre-existing documentary evidence and the requested correction does not prejudice the substantive customs assessment.

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