Shipping bill amendment and duty drawback: a circular time limit cannot defeat statutory correction of procedural errors after export.

Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962 permits amendment of shipping bills after export where the request is otherwise legally maintainable, and a three-month limit in a Board circular cannot override that statutory power. A clerical or procedural mistake in the shipping bill should not by itself deprive an exporter of duty drawback when the export is otherwise eligible. On that basis, conversion of the shipping bills was upheld and the Revenue's challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the conversion or amendment of shipping bills after export could be allowed despite the time limit in the Board circular, and whether the exporter was entitled to the benefit of duty drawback on that basis.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the scope of amendment of shipping bills under Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962. The Board circular prescribing a three-month time limit was treated as non-statutory and, therefore, not binding so as to defeat a request otherwise eligible under the statute. The decision also proceeded on the principle that a clerical or procedural error in the shipping bill should not deprive the exporter of a substantive drawback benefit where the export was otherwise eligible.

Conclusion: The amendment or conversion of the shipping bills was validly allowed, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The order permitting conversion of the shipping bills was sustained, and the Revenue appeal was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: A time limit contained only in a Board circular cannot override the statutory power to amend shipping bills under Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962, and a procedural or clerical omission should not by itself defeat an otherwise admissible drawback claim.

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