AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2014 (5) TMI 635
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....149 of Customs Act, 1962 do not envisage such a conversion. The adjudicating authority also relied upon the CBEC circular and on merit held that the goods which were exported having not been tested by the Customs to check the veracity of the declaration of the party on various export documents. Aggrieved by such an order, the appellants is before the Tribunal. 3. Ld. Counsel would take us through the entire Order-in-Original and the findings recorded by the adjudicating authority vis-a-vis the allegations made in the show cause notice. It is his submission that the adjudicating authority has simply overlooked the fact that the documents which were in existence when the export took place, clearly indicate that the exports were of furnace oil. He would submit that the appellant filed free shipping bills for the reason that during the relevant period, the duty drawback on the furnace oil exported was restricted only to the exports made to SEZ unit and the said drawback was of All India rate. He would submit that subsequently they were informed that specific brand rate could be fixed for the furnace oil exported by them and hence they sought the conversion of free shipping bills to ....
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....ority and submit that the appellant being a big refinery, is not producing any certificate of their laboratory to canvas that the goods which were exported were furnace oil and instead are relying upon the certificate of M/s Geochem Laboratory. He would also submit that the reliance placed by the Advocate on CBEC circular No.25/2005-Cus, dt.06.06.2005 is also incorrect as the said circular specifically clarifies that the inhouse test results can be relied upon if the said manufacturer/exporter was having ISO 9000 series certificate. He would draw our attention to the judgment of Hon'ble High Court of Delhi in the case of Terra Films Pvt. Ltd. Vs CC - 2011 (268) ELT 443 and the judgment of Hon'ble High Court of Madras in the case of Suzlon Energy Ltd - 2013 (293) ELT 3 (Mad.) 5. We have considered the submissions made at length by both sides and perused the records. 6. The issue involved in this case is whether the appellant's application for conversion of free shipping bills into drawback shipping bills needs to be allowed or otherwise, when such application is made after the goods were exported. 7. The undisputed facts are that the documents relating to the ex....
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.... Court of Mumbai in the case of Repro India Ltd 2009 (235) ELT 614 (Bom.) has specifically laid down in Para 8 which read that the intentions of the Government is not to export taxes but only to export the goods. In the case in hand, if the duty drawback is not allowed to the appellant, the appellant is perforce required to export the taxes, which gets included in the FOB value. In our view, this being not the intention, conversion of free shipping bills into drawback shipping bills needs to be allowed. 9. We also find strong force in the contentions raised by the ld. Counsel that in the appellant's own case, this Bench on identical issue for the earlier period, has allowed such conversion by recording the following findings:- "6. We have considered the submissions made by both the sides. In our order cited above, we had not mentioned any specific provision of the law which permits conversion. The circular issued by the Board even though speaks of conversion of shipping bills, the discussion is entirely relating to the provisions of Rule 12 of Customs & Central Excise Duties Drawback Rules, 1995 (Drawback ....
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.... other particulars as are necessary for deciding whether the goods are entitled to drawback, and if so, at what rate or rates and make a declaration on the relevant shipping bill that a claim for drawback is being made and in respect of duties paid on containers packing materials service tax etc. no separate claim for rebate of duty has been made. The Commissioner is empowered to allow drawback or shipping bills which may not contain any of these details. This is nothing but an amendment of the shipping bill filed or conversion. Therefore the observation of the Commissioner that he has no powers to convert a free shipping bill into drawback shipping bill does not stand supported by the rule at all. The circular issued by the Board goes beyond the rules. In fact as submitted by the learned C.A., Section 149 of Customs Act, 1962 clearly permits amendment of shipping bill. The section is reproduced below: "Section 149 : Amendment of documents. - Save as otherwise provided in sections 30 and 41, the proper officer may, in his discretion, authorize any document, after it has been presented in the custom house to be amended : &....