AI OCR 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2017 (7) TMI 1026
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....n, upheld the order and rejected their appeal. Hence, the present appeal. 3. Ld. Advocate Shri Paritosh Gupta for the appellant has submitted that rejection of their request for amendment of the Free Shipping Bill into DEEC (Advance Licence Scheme)shipping bill under Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962 is erroneous. It is his contention that request was made by them relying upon same set of documents filed at the time of assessment of shipping bills which were listed out in the letter dated 27.11.2009. Therefore, the Department ought to have allowed their request for conversion of free shipping bill into DEEC(Advance Licence Scheme) shipping bill by allowing amendment under u/s 149 of the C.A., 1962. 4. Further, he has submitted that the other objection of the Department that the consignment was not opened for physical examination, therefore amendment cannot be allowed, is not justified for the reason that there was no doubt about the fact that the goods exported by the appellant was Purified Water Solution Plant and the foreign exchange has also been remitted to the appellant. It is his contention that physical examination would be relevant only when the exporter claimed to hav....
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....licence number in the shipping bill would not suffice to claim the export benefit, but it is the obligation of the manufacturer exporter to categorically declare in ARE I( at serial No.4) that export was in discharge of export obligation; in the present case, the appellant had failed to declare the same in the relevant ARE-I No.08/05-06 dated 18.8.05. Thus, it was not a simple mistake, but it was well within the knowledge of the exporter at the time of clearance of the goods from the factory to the port against the said ARE I i.e. before filing of shipping bill on 22.8.2005, that they were not to claim the benefit under the DEEC(Advance Licence Scheme). He has further submitted that copy of the packing list as mentioned in ARE I or invoice has not been attached with the application, therefore, it was not possible to correlate the imported goods with the exported ones. He has referred to the judgment of the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in the case of Terra Films Pvt. Ltd. Vs. C.C. 2011 (268) ELT 443 (Del.), the judgment of Hon'ble Madras High Court in the case of C.C. (Export) Vs. Areva T & D India Ltd. - 2013 (298) ELT 689 (Mad.) and Comm. of Cus (Sea Port Export),Chennai Vs. S....
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.... the relevant time were applied and the request for amendment was rejected by the Commissioner. The Board's circular dated 16th January, 2004 envisages as under : "As regards permitting conversion of free shipping bills in (A) to Advance Licence/DEPB/DFRC shipping bills is concerned, it is true over a period of time, with liberalization having been ushered in the Customs administration, clearance of goods is being permitted mostly on the basis of self-declaration made by the exporters on the shipping bills. Such self-assessment scheme necessarily casts the responsibility on the exporters to make up his mind at the time of filing shipping bills as to which export promotion incentive he likes to avail. With the introduction of the system of on-line assessment, such request for conversion at a later date creates difficulties and it is not advisable to encourage such conversion. It is, therefore, clarified that conversion of free shipping (B) bills into Advance Licence/DEPB/DFRC shipping bills should not be allowed. As regards permitting conversion of shipping bills from one export promotion scheme to another is concerned, it is clarified that such conversion should only be all....
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....ment under Section 149 of the Act and not only confined to conversion within the scope of the aforesaid circular. In fact, the matter was remanded by the CESTAT to the Commissioner on such submission made by the exporter before the CESTAT. Section 149 of the Act under which the exporter submits the amendment to be permissible reads as under : Amendment "Section 149. of documents - Save as otherwise provided in Section 30 and 41, the proper officer may, in his discretion, authorize any document after it has been presented in the customs house to be amended. Provided that no amendment of a bill of entry or a shipping bill of export shall be authorised to be amended after the imported goods have been cleared for home consumption or deposited in a warehouse, or the export goods have been exported, except on the basis of documentary evidence which was in existence at the time the goods were cleared, deposited or exported, as the case may be." 6.As per proviso of this Section 149, no amendment of a shipping bill was to be allowed after the export goods have been exported except on the basis of the documentary evidence, which was in existence at the time the goods were exported. The ....
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....king such request observed as follows: "16. The provision regarding amendment of documents gives a clear indication that such amendments cannot be permitted as a matter of course. It is true that discretion is given to the authorities to permit amendment of documents after it has been presented in the customs house. However, no amendment can be made after the export, except on the basis of documentary evidence which was in existence at the time when the goods were exported. 17. There is a purpose in putting such onerous condition in the matter of amendment of documents after making exports. The conversion is not a matter of right. The idea is that such conversion should not result in availment of double benefits. Though the Section does not say that omission should be genuine, a reading of the provision gives a clear idea that it was not intended as a routine measure. Only in very exceptional cases, conversion would be permitted and that too, on production of contemporaneous documentary evidence. In case of abnormal delay in making such request for conversion, the Department would not be in a position to ascertain as to whether the duty free goods were utilised in the export prod....