The Commissioner's rejection of the appellant's requests for ...

Shipping Bills conversion rejected wrongly; Gujarat HC struck down circular clause as unconstitutional.

December 7, 2024

Case Laws     Customs     AT

The Commissioner's rejection of the appellant's requests for conversion of DFIA Shipping Bills to Drawback Shipping Bills, relying on Para 3(a) of the CBIC Circular No. 36/2010-Customs, was held to be incorrect. The Gujarat High Court had previously ruled that Para 3(a) of the said Circular was ultra vires Articles 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India and ultra vires Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962. Since the Commissioner's rejection was solely based on the struck-down Para 3(a), the impugned order was held to be bad in law. Furthermore, under Para 4.28(e) of the Handbook of Procedures 2009-14, the appellant could apply for conversion after the DFIA licenses were cancelled, which they promptly did. No time limit was prescribed for seeking conversion. Consequently, the appellant was entitled to conversion of the Shipping Bills into drawback shipping bills. The CESTAT allowed the appeal.

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