Delhi High Court
Bayer Crop Science Limited vs Union Of India & Ors on 11 December, 2019
$~39
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of decision: 11th December, 2019
+ W.P.(C) 6477/2018
BAYER CROP SCIENCE LIMITED ..... Petitioner
Through: Mr. Ramesh Babu M.R. & Ms.
Smitharani M.R., Advocates (M-
9311289084)
versus
UNION OF INDIA & ORS ..... Respondents
Through: Mr. Amit Bansal, Sr. Standing
Counsel with Mr. Aman Rewaria,
Advocate for R-3 (M-9810072413)
CORAM:
JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH
Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)
1. The Petitioner - Bayer Crop Sciences Limited which is an exporter of
agrochemicals and other formulated products has filed the present petition
against the Directorate General Foreign Trade (hereinafter „DGFT‟) and
Commissioner of Customs/Union of India on the ground that under the
Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), it was entitled to various
benefits which were extended to it in respect of 43 shipping bills. The case
of the Petitioner is that MEIS is an incentive which is provided to exporters
in order to compensate them for higher freight charges and labour costs. It is
the usual process to upload shipping bills on the DGFT system which is
done by exporters online. In respect of 43 shipping bills for the exports done
during the period 2015-16, the Petitioner was unable to upload the same and
despite repeatedly contacting the official web platform of the DGFT i.e.
ICEGATE, the issues could not be resolved. Hence the Petitioner also made
a representation to the Joint Director General of Foreign Trade to intervene
in the matter and since repeated representations did not yield any fruitful
result, the present writ petition has been filed. The prayers in the petition are
as under:
"(a) Direct the respondents to immediately upload the
correct and complete data of the 43 shipping bills to
enable the petitioner to apply for MEIS benefit which
they are entitled to under the Export Import Policy of
the Government.
(b) Extend the time for submitting application for MEIS
Benefit by Six months from the date the respondents
upload the correct and complete data of the 43
shipping bills: and
(c) Pass such other further and/or other writs, orders
and directions as the nature and circumstances of the
case may require."
2. The petition was first listed on 1st June, 2018 when notice was issued
in the matter. During the pendency of the petition, the Petitioner submitted
on 12th July, 2019 that 39 shipping bills have already been uploaded. Ld.
counsel for the Respondent was asked to seek instructions in the matter.
3. Mr. Amit Bansal, appearing for the Commissioner of Customs handed
over copy of an affidavit dated 30th November, 2019 which is stated to have
been filed yesterday. As per the said affidavit, sworn by the Assistant
Commissioner working in the Office of the Commissioner of Customs i.e.
Respondent No.3 most of issues have been resolved. Paragraphs 1 and 2 of
the said affidavit read as under:
"1. That regarding the issue of transmission of 43
shipping bills from customs system to DGFT system it
is stated that the whole process of transmission of
shipping bills is automatic in EDI system. In the very
first instance no manual intervention by customs is
required for transmission of the data regarding
shipping bills as the process is automatic. After filing
of EGM (Export General Manifest) the data of
shipping bills concerned get automatically transmitted
to DGFT for further necessary action at their end.
However, in very few cases the exporters approach
EDI section with request of re-transmission of the
shipping bills as their data is still not reflecting in
DGFT even after the automatic transmission. Then the
EDI section of this customs houses manually
retransmits the shipping bills to DGFT. This happens
only in very few cases. The issue of shipping bill not
getting transmitted automatically has also been
examined in general and found that due to connectivity
or internet patch break or slow speed in some cases the
continuing process of automatic transmission gets
interrupted due to which the data of some shipping bill
does not get transmitted. In such cases EDI section,
when informed by the exporter immediately retransmits
the data. At times these issues are brought to the notice
of the team of DG system (Directorate General of
Systems) which is custodian of the EDI system in
Customs.
2. That further in response to Exporter‟s letter dated
06.01.2017, out of 43 Shipping Bills, 40 Shipping Bills
were already re-transmitted to DGFT through AMEND
role in the year 2017 & 2018. However, Shipping Bill
No.3146189 dated 22.09.2015 could not be re-
transmitted due to invalid date. Shipping Bill
No.4896133 dated 24.12.2015 and 4896128 dated
24.12.2015 could not be retransmitted as the said
Shipping Bills were not filed under reward scheme i.e.
exporter has not opted the MEIS scheme."
4. As per the affidavit, the non-submission of the shipping bills by the
Petitioner online could have been due to an IT related technical glitch. The
same has been attempted to be resolved and the 40 shipping bills have now
been re-transmitted to the ICEGATE platform. Printouts of the said
screenshots from the ICEGATE platform have also been placed on record. A
perusal of the above affidavit shows that substantially, the Petitioner's
grievance has been redressed - though belatedly. Out of the 43 shipping
bills, the Respondents submits that 40 shipping bills have been re-
transmitted and only the issue of three shipping bills remains as per the ld.
counsel for the Petitioner.
5. Insofar as the three shipping bills which according to the Petitioner
ought to have been re-transmitted are concerned, the proof of submission of
the same contemporaneously would be furnished to the Respondent No.3.
After verification of the same, if the Respondent No.3 has any objections in
respect of the three shipping bills, the same shall be communicated to the
Petitioner and the issues in respect of the three shipping bills shall also be
resolved.
6. The 40 shipping bills which have now been re-transmitted shall now
be processed by Respondent No.2 i.e. DGFT in order to permit the Petitioner
to avail of the benefits under the MEIS. If the three shipping bills are re-
transmitted after satisfying the Customs Authorities on the ICEGATE
platform, then the said shipping bills would also be processed for extending
of the MEIS benefit in respect thereof.
7. With the aforesaid directions, no further grievance of the Petitioner
would survive. The petition is allowed in the above terms with no orders as
to costs. All pending applications are also disposed of.
PRATHIBA M. SINGH
JUDGE
DECEMBER 11, 2019
Rahul
