Delhi High Court - Orders
Jubilant Biosys Limited vs Directorate General Of Foreign Trade & ... on 16 December, 2022
Author: Vibhu Bakhru
Bench: Vibhu Bakhru, Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav
$~20
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ W.P.(C) 14754/2022
JUBILANT BIOSYS LIMITED ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr Shashank Shekhar and Mr
Samyak Jain, Advocates.
versus
DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF FOREIGN
TRADE & ORS. ..... Respondents
Through: Mr Vineet Malhotra and Mr
Vishal Gohri, Advocate for R-
1/DGFT.
Mr Satish Kumar, Senior
Standing Counsel for R-3 & 4
with Mr Dhruv and Ms
Vaishali, Advocates.
Mr Ashok K. Arya, Senior
Standing Counsel with Mr
Aman Rewaria, Advocate for
R-4 & 5.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIBHU BAKHRU
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR
KAURAV
ORDER
% 16.12.2022
1. The petitioner has filed the present petition, inter alia, praying that directions be issued to respondent no.1 to allow benefits of "the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS)" in respect of 69 (sixty-nine) shipping bills pertaining to shipments made during the period 06.04.2018 to 31.05.2020.
2. The petitioner has been denied the benefits of the MEIS as it had submitted an online declaration indicating that it would not avail the Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:Dushyant Rawal Signing Date:17.12.2022 benefits of MEIS. In the online form, against the query whether it would avail benefits under the MEIS, the petitioner has marked in the negative. According to the petitioner, the entry of the negative answer (No) instead of (Yes), in the reward column, was made due to an inadvertent error. The petitioner had thereafter approached the office of respondent no.2 to correct the said error. It is stated that the office of respondent no.2 has since corrected the said order and had issued an amendment certificate dated 08.02.2022, covering the 69 shipping bills in question. However, the shipping bills were corrected manually and could not be corrected online.
3. Under clause 3.01 of the Foreign Trade Policy, the manual entries are not permissible. Paragraph 3.14(a) of the Handbook of Procedure also states that it is mandatory to make the entries online.
4. It is the petitioner's case that the Handbook of Procedure is the only procedural guide and would not disentitle the petitioner from availing the substantive benefits of MEIS in terms of the Foreign Trade Policy.
5. The petition was considered on 19.10.2022 and a coordinate bench of this Court had had passed the following order:
"W.P.(C) 14754/2022
2. The principal grievance of the petitioner is, that although necessary amendments have been made in the 69 shipping bills, which are in issue, via the amendment certificate dated 08.02.2022, it has been denied benefits under the Merchandise Export from India Scheme [in short "Scheme"], only for the reason that the portal would not accept the amendments.Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:Dushyant Rawal Signing Date:17.12.2022
3. It is on this account that the decision taken at the meetings dated 22.04.2022 and 05.05.2022, which was communicated to the petitioner via e-mail dated 20.05.2022, is being assailed.
3.1 This decision has been taken by respondent no.2.
4. To be noted, the aforementioned amendment certificate dated 08.02.2022, has been issued by respondent no.4.
5. Prima facie, we are of the view that the grievance of the petitioner can be addressed, if a meeting is convened between respondent no.1/Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT); respondent no.2/Policy Relaxation Committee (PRC); respondent no.3/Directorate General of Systems and Data Management and respondent no.4/Deputy Commissioner of Customs (CRU), who, as indicated, has issued the aforementioned amendment certificate.
6. Learned counsel for the petitioner says, that an advance copy of the petition was served on the respondents. However, there is no appearance on behalf of the respondents.
7. Since Ms Sonu Bhatnagar, Advocate, is present, albeit, via videoconferencing (VC), we have requested her to accept notice on behalf of the respondents in the matter.
8. Ms Bhatnagar will ensure, that a meeting is convened by respondent no.1/DGFT, so that this imbroglio is resolved before the next date of hearing.
9. A report, in this behalf, will be placed before us, before the next date of hearing.
10. In any event, we are issuing notice in the matter.
10.1 In case the respondents wish to resist the writ petition, they will file counter-affidavit(s), before the next date of hearing.Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:Dushyant Rawal Signing Date:17.12.2022
11. We may also record, that the 69 shipping bills concern the period spanning between 06.04.2018 and 31.05.2020.
12. List the matter on 16.12.2022."
6. This Court is informed that in compliance with the aforesaid order, a meeting of concerned officers was held on 08.12.2022. A copy of the minutes of the said meeting had been handed over to this Court. Paragraph nos. 4 and 5 of the said minutes read as under:
"4. In exceptional cases the customs as per defined procedure amends the SBs from 'N' to 'Y' in MEIS SBs under section 149 of Customs act. However post EGM such amendments are done in a manual mode and no electronic transmission of such manual amendments is possible to the DGFT server.
5. Nothing the Hon'ble Court's directions in this individual case it was decided that Customs will transmit the 'N' SBs to DGFT server through a manual intervention at ICEGATE, DGFT based on the electronic transmission and keeping in view the manual amendments made, will process the case for further for grant of MEIS benefits as exceptional manner."
7. In view of the aforesaid decision, respondent no.4 shall transmit the corrected bills as decided in terms of paragraph no. 5 of the minutes, as stated above, within a period of two weeks from today. The petitioner's claim for benefits under MEIS shall be decided within a period of six weeks thereafter.
8. In view of the above, the petitioner's grievance in the present petition stands addressed. No further orders are required to be passed in this petition.
9. The petition is disposed of. All pending applications are also Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:Dushyant Rawal Signing Date:17.12.2022 disposed of.
10. Order dasti under signature of Court Master.
VIBHU BAKHRU, J PURUSHAINDRA KUMAR KAURAV, J DECEMBER 16, 2022 RK Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:Dushyant Rawal Signing Date:17.12.2022