Calcutta High Court
M/S. Dhunseri Petrochem Limited & Anr vs The Additional Director General Of ... on 2 July, 2015
Author: Biswanath Somadder
Bench: Biswanath Somadder
ORDER SHEET
W.P. No. 561 of 2015
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
CONSTITUTIONAL WRIT JURISDICTION
ORIGINAL SIDE
M/S. DHUNSERI PETROCHEM LIMITED & ANR.
Versus
THE ADDITIONAL DIRECTOR GENERAL OF FOREIGN TRADE & ORS.
BEFORE:
The Hon'ble JUSTICE BISWANATH SOMADDER
Date: 2nd July, 2015.
Appearance:
Mr. Abhijit Chatterjee, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Pratyush Jhunjhunwala, Adv.
... for the petitioners
Ms. Debjani Ray, Adv.
... for the UOI
The Court: Let the affidavit of service filed in Court today be taken on
record.
The petitioner no.1 claims to be a manufacturer and exporter of PET chips
falling under Chapter 3907 of the First Schedule of the Central Excise Tariff Act,
1985. The petitioner no.1 has been allotted an Import & Export Code, commonly
known as an "IE Code". The petitioner no.1 intended to take benefit of a scheme
named, Incremental Export Incentivisation Scheme, which was introduced in
terms of a notification dated 28th December, 2012. The petitioner no.1 applied
online, within time, on 10th February, 2015. However, the software, which is
being used by the concerned respondent authorities, did not allow the
application, made online by the petitioner no.1, to be accepted for claiming entitlement, with the following error message, "1 Please re-check Entitlement claimed. It cant be greated than Rs.1 Cr. for Yearly basis Claim for an IEC in Export Year [2013-14]".
2
In such a factual backdrop, the writ petitioner has approached this Court praying, inter alia, for a direction upon the concerned respondent authorities to furnish the petitioner no.1 an appropriate ANF 3F Form.
At the time of hearing of the matter, learned advocate representing the office of the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade submits, on instruction, that the reason why the petitioner no.1 could not generate the unique number online which would have facilitated physical filing of ANF 3F Form, was due to the fact that the petitioner no.1 had made an entitlement claim of more than Rupees one crore. According to her, the petitioner no.1 ought to have made an entitlement claim of Rupees one crore or less and obtained the unique number online, which would have facilitated physical filing of the ANF 3F Form.
This Court, however, is not satisfied by the stand taken on behalf of the respondents. If a person is entitled to lodge an entitlement claim in excess of Rupees one crore, the software ought to have factored-in that aspect of the matter. It appears that due to a software glitch, a person entitled to fill up and deposit ANF 3F Form in excess of Rupees one crore is compelled to make a mis- declaration with regard to his entitlement. This software glitch is required to be rectified forthwith by the concerned respondent authorities.
So far as the petitioner no.1 is concerned, it may be permitted to fill up the physical ANF 3F Form, without the unique number generated online, having regard to the fact that it had attempted to file online within time i.e. on 10th February, 2015, but solely due to a software glitch it could not successfully generate the unique number online, which is required for depositing the physical ANF 3F Form. It is made clear that the respondent authorities shall consider 10th February, 2015, as the relevant date for the purpose of computation of limitation 3 for grant of entitlement in favour of the petitioner no.1 on the basis of the declaration of entitlement to be made in the ANF 3F Form.
The writ petition stands disposed of accordingly.
Urgent photostat certified copies of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of all requisite formalities.
(BISWANATH SOMADDER, J.) sg2