TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (8) TMI 965
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.... Authorisation ("AA") even in case of supplies to Special Economic Zone Unit ("SEZ"). According to Petitioner the action on part of Respondents in not accepting the supplies made by Petitioner to units located in the SEZ in discharge of EO against AA issued to Petitioner solely on the ground of non-submission of "Bills of Export", notwithstanding other evidence on record substantiating Petitioner's claim of export, is bad in law. 3. Petitioner is engaged in the business of manufacturing, refining and export of Non-Ferrous Metal Alloys from its units situated in Dadra-Nagar Haveli, Silvassa. Petitioner had received purchase orders from one Ideal Fasteners (India) Pvt. Ltd. located in SEZ for manufacture and supply of Zinc Alloy Ingots Zamak-5. Accordingly, Petitioner obtained an AA for the purpose of duty-free import of goods stated therein to be used in export of final products Zinc Alloy Ingots Zamak-5 to its customers located in the SEZ. Petitioner was permitted to import goods of CIF value of Rs. 3,73,79,160/- against which export obligation of FOB value of Rs. 4,36,25,000/- was under the AA. According to Petitioner, and admittedly so, supply of goods to units located in SEZ is....
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....gainst AA. 6. An affidavit-in-reply has been filed on behalf of Respondent Nos.1 to 3 by one Haroon Bilal affirmed on 26th February 2024 and one Umesh Shripal Chougule affirmed on 2nd January 2024 on behalf of Respondent No. 4. The stand taken by Respondent Nos.1 to 3, which is also adopted by Respondent No. 4, is that submission of "Bill of Export" in case of export to SEZ is mandatory. This was the stand taken by Mr. Singh and same was adopted by Mr. Ketkar. 7. Mr. Shah placed on record a Policy Circular No. 4 of 2024 dated 3rd June 2024, by which the Directorate General of Foreign Trade ("DGFT") has relaxed the provisions of submission of "Bill of Export" as evidence of export obligation discharge for supplies made to SEZ Unit in case of AA. A copy of the same, for ease of reference, is scanned and reproduced below:- Government of India Ministry of Commerce and Industry Department of Commerce Directorate General of Foreign Trade Vanijya Bhawan, Akbar Road, New Delhi Policy - 4 Division Policy Circular No. 04/2024 Dated: 3rd June 2024 To All Regional Authorities of DGFT All Exporters/Members of Trade All Custom Authorities Subject: Relaxation in the provision ....
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....der AA for all such supplies made prior to 1st July 2017. Mr. Singh was unable to explain why the cut-off date is given as 1st July 2017 and infact was candid to say he had raised the same query with DGFT to which he has not received any response . 9. In view of the cut-off date of 1st July 2017 as per the Circular, out of the 37 supplies mentioned in the application dated 26th November 2018 for redemption / no bond certificate against AA filed by Petitioner, 29 supplies would get covered. Therefore, for these 29 supplies Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 will have to issue EODC. That would leave the balance 8 supplies to be considered. 10. Mr. Shah relied upon a judgment of the Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Larsen & Toubro Limited vs. Union of India 2018 (360) E.L.T. 289 (Bom.) to submit that the issue has been concluded against Respondents. Mr. Shah submitted that the refusal to relax export obligations in respect of supplies made to SEZ in the absence of assessed copy of "Bill of Export" has been held to be unjustified. Paragraphs 63 to 71 of Larsen & Toubro Limited (supra) read as under:- "63. The petitioner accordingly approached the Policy Relaxation Committee on 29-8-2013. The....
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....ention by the Committee, as a special case. 66. We are of the view that in the facts and circumstances of this case, the petitioner having duly supplied the copies of the ARE-1 forms, it is only a further technical objection, of the said form not mentioning the advance authorisation number in the initial copies of the same but supplied later on, could have been condoned. It is not as if ARE-1s have not been filed. It is not as if there is a doubt about the copy of ARE-1s or the authenticity or genuineness thereof. It is not anybody's case that there are no ARE-1 forms on record. Therefore, these forms were available. Therefore, the stand that there is no proof of export obligation being discharged, could not have been maintained once the petitioner was told to approach the Policy Relaxation Committee and it was empowered to relax any of the technical requirements or procedural matters. Equally, it was empowered to clarify in the facts of this case at least that the documents forwarded by the petitioner can be accepted as proof of export. 67. We do not see how the authorities then maintained that the petitioner's request for condonation of procedural lapse by not gener....
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....taken as equivalent to an export of goods physically from this country to abroad. Once such an act of the petitioner is taken to be an export, entitling them to the benefits of the advance authorisation and the scheme in respect thereof, then, all the conditions stipulated in that authorisation ought to be taken as fulfilled. Therefore, the Policy Relaxation Committee, as an afterthought, could not have directed the petitioner to get the case regularised as per provisions of the Handbook of Procedures 2009-2014, Vol-l or the SEZ Rules. We are considering the FTP of 2004-09 and the Handbook of Procedures in relation to this Policy Unmindful of the same, in its subsequent decision, the Committee refers to FTP of 2009-14. 71. As a result of the above discussion, we do not think that the petitioner was required to be visited with any adverse consequences, including issuance of Show Cause Notice. We are not in agreement with Mr. Desai that the Policy Relaxation Committee empowered by the Policy itself, namely, the FTP to relax the policy condition has acted within the four corners thereof. We have pointed out its flip-flop and twists elaborately. We find that it has acted not in acco....