The Karnataka High Court while directing the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and Customs Department to grant Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) to Agricultural Exporters has held that export benefits cannot be denied due to tech glitches.
The bench of Justice Suraj Govindaraj has observed that there are situations where the assessee by inadvertence or even otherwise has uploaded certificate/forms or returns which contains some errors which would require correction. The said correction or amendment cannot be denied on the basis of the technological system which has been introduced by the Department to contend that the software does not allow for such amendment. Prior to software being introduced, it was always available to allow amendment of the documents by the petitioner physically by submitting the application which would be considered by the concerned authorities. Merely because a software system is introduced, it would not mean that the software would override the principles of natural justice and rights of the parties. The software cannot govern the relationship between the assessee and the department.
The bench stated that the department must implement such features as may be required in the software to enable the petitioner to amend any of the documents filed subject of course to certain restrictions and supervision of the concerned authorities. In as much as, these amendments can be allowed to be made by the assessee after prior approval of the concerned authorities by following due procedure in relation thereof.
The issue raised was whether the petitioner would be entitled to claim export benefit on a subsequent date if not so claimed along with the original shipping bill?
The petitioner had uploaded the shipping bills on 15.03.2021, 16.03.2021, 01.04.2021 and 09.04.2021. In the column indicating the claim for export benefit, inadvertently, the petitioner had not selected the option ‘Yes’ in the relevant field in the form. In fact, the
The petitioner had selected the option ‘No’ in the form and as such, export benefit in relation to the advantage was not provided to the petitioner.
Subsequently, when the petitioner had approached the respondent for amendment of the said shipping bill and for grant of export benefit, the said application was not accepted on the ground that the shipping bills have been provided in the online manner and there is no scope for amendment of the online shipping bill and furthermore, there is no procedure envisaged for a manual amendment of shipping bill which is submitted in online.
The department contended that there can be denial of the export benefit as available to the petitioner in terms of shipping bill which have been uploaded online. However, his submission is that since there is no procedure which is envisaged for amendment through online or for manual amendment, the request of the petitioner could not be processed.
The court while allowing the petition held that the petitioner would be entitled for export benefit even though no claim is made at the time of uploading the shipping bills.
The court re-listed the matter on 18.08.2025 for reporting compliance and above general directions.
Case Details
Case Title: LOUIS DREYFUS COMPANY Versus UNION OF INDIA
Case No.: WRIT PETITION NO. 9005 OF 2025 (T-CUS)
Date: 09/07/2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Pradeep Nayak And Sri. Kishore Kunal
Counsel For Respondent: Akash B. Shetty
