Page 147 - ELT_1st July 2020_Vol 373_Part 1

2020 ] GOKUL OVERSEAS v. UNION OF INDIA 57

Exporters shall submit physical copies of free shipping bills after
electronic filing of application to RA at the time of submission of
application for MEIS rewards in these cases. RA shall grant MEIS
rewards after examination of such shipping bills in accordance with
other provisions of FTP/HBP.
4. From 1-6-2015, only those shipping bills, which are transmitted by Cus-
tom Authorities to DGFT, shall be considered under MEIS.
Effect of this Public Notice :
Shipping bills, where declaration of intent ‘Y’ has not been marked and ‘N’
has been ticked inadvertently in the ‘reward item box’ while filing shipping
bill in Customs for exports made between 1-4-2015 to 31-5-2015, shall be
transmitted by CBEC to DGFT.”
26. Vide Public Notice No. 47/2015-2020, dated 8-12-2015, the proce-
dure prescribed vide Public Notice No. 40, dated 9-10-2015 has been extended
beyond 31-5-2015 for the period from 1-6-2015 to 30-9-2015.
27. From the facts and contentions noted above, it emerges that the pe-
titioner is not permitted conversion of the shipping bills from free shipping bills
to MEIS shipping bills for the reason that Circular No. 36/2010-Customs, dated
23-9-2010 provides that conversion may be allowed provided that request has
been made within three months from the date of the Let Export Order. The facts
as recorded hereinabove reveal that the Deputy Commissioner of Customs,
Kandla SEZ, Gandhidham (Office of the Development Commissioner, Kandla
Special Economic Zone) has, in the context of the petitioner’s request for amend-
ing the shipping bills to incorporate ‘declaration of intent’, has furnished com-
ments on the issue to the respondent No. 6 - Assistant Commissioner (Exports),
Office of the Commissioner of Customs, Kandla, stating that the petitioner has
been regularly filing its claim for similar goods under the MEIS for later periods
and it appears that the petitioner is otherwise eligible for benefits under the said
scheme. Therefore, in the light of the provisions of Section 149 of the Act read
with the provisions of Circular No. 36/2010-Customs, dated 23-9-2010 and Noti-
fication No. 40/2012-(N.T.), dated 2-5-2012, the decision regarding conversion
may be taken on the basis of documentary evidence which was in existence at the
time when the goods were exported subject to the satisfaction of the competent
authority.
28. Thus, the eligibility of the petitioner to claim benefits under the
MEIS has not been doubted. The sole hurdle in the case of the petitioner is that
since the shipping bills are free shipping bills, wherein no ‘declaration of intent’
has been made, the petitioner is required to get the shipping bills amended by
incorporating the following ‘declaration of intent’: “We intend to claim rewards
under Merchandise Exports From India Scheme (MEIS)”.
29. In this case, the petitioner applied for the MEIS for the exports
made during the period April 2015 to January 2016, under separate applications.
The said applications were partly allowed and twenty-five shipping bills were
disputed. Vide letter dated 3-8-2016, the petitioner was informed by the respond-
ent No. 5 - Development Commissioner, that since there is no ‘declaration of in-
tent’ on the shipping bills for claiming benefits under the MEIS, a reference has
been sent to the respondent No. 3 - DGFT for a clarification whether such ship-
ping bills (Non-EDI) prior to 1-6-2015 were eligible for benefits under the MEIS
benefits or not. Therefore, till that time, its claim will be kept pending. Thus, the
claim was kept pending by the concerned authorities.
EXCISE LAW TIMES  1st July 2020  147