M/s.Anil Ginning and Pressing Factory & Anr. v. Union of India

Mr. Chirag Balsara with Ms. Meenakshi Dhanuka Rungta for the petitioners in the above Writ Petitions and Civil Applications. Dr. G.R. Sharma along with Mr. A.S. Rao and Mr. Rajinder Kumar and Smt. Purnima Awasthi for respondent – UOI in the above Writ Petitions and Civil Applications. WITH WRIT PETITION LODGING NO.1437 OF 2011 (ORIGINAL SIDE) Murli Exports Versus ...Petitioner The Union of India & Ors. ..Respondents Mr. Amit Sale for petitioner Dr. G.R. Sharma along with Mr. A.S. Rao and Mr. Rajinder Kumar and Smt. Purnima Awasthi for respondent – UOI. WITH WRIT PETITION NO.5254 OF 2011 Shah Govardhandas Bhikaridas & Ors. ...Petitioners Vs. Union of India & Ors. ..Respondents Mr. R.S. Apte, Senior Advocate with Mr. Girish Paryani and Yatish Gujarathi for petitioner. Mr. R.V. Desai, Senior Advocate with Dr. G.R. Mishra and Smt. N.V. Masurkar and Smt. Purnima Awasthi for respondent – UOI. 3 wp-4743-11.sxw WITH WRIT PETITION LODGING NO.1458 OF 2011 (ORIGINAL SIDE) M/s.Sun Export Private Ltd. ..Petitioner Versus Union of India & Ors. ..Respondents Mr. Vikram Nankani with Mr. J.H. Motwani, for the petitioner. Dr. G.R. Sharma along with Mr. A.S. Rao and Mr. Rajinder Kumar and Smt. Purnima Awasthi for respondent – UOI. CORAM : MOHIT S. SHAH, C. J. AND GIRISH S. GODBOLE, J. 20 July 2011 OPERATIVE ORDER: In view of the above discussion the petitions are disposed of in terms of the following order:- (1) Clauses (i) and (iii) of para.4 of the Trade Notice dated 17 June 2011 at Exhibit “K” to the Writ Petition No.4743 of 2011 are held to be without authority of law. (2) Since there is no challenge to clauses (ii) of para.4 of the aforesaid Trade Notice, Respondents are at liberty to implement para. 4(ii) of the above Trade Notice. (3) While it is true that as per Annexure 3 to the Trade Notice dated 17 June 2011, 25 June 2011 was the last date for making applications and 6 July 2011 was the date of declaration of allocation, 4 wp-4743-11.sxw since we are striking down clauses (i) and (iii) of para.4 of the Trade Notice dated 17 June 2011, the parties who had not exported cotton in the previous cotton years 1 October to 30 September (2008-09 and 2009-10) will also be eligible to apply for registration certificate. This might have ordinarily prompted us to direct the respondents to issue a fresh trade notice inviting applications all over again. However, having regard to the fact that the cotton season comes to an end on 30 September 2011, we direct the respondents to receive, consider and process all applications which were made prior to 6 July, 2011 without taking into consideration clauses (i) and (iii) which are held to be illegal. However, those who applied after 25 June 2011 and before 6 July 2011 will be allocated the floor limit of 100 metric tonnes per IEC by 27 July

4. As regards the parties who applied within the time limit upto 25 June 2011, each party will be given firm allocation of atleast 100 Mts and for the balance quantity remaining after allocation as above and under direction No.(3), allocation will be made to the parties who applied upto 25 June 2011, ( without taking into consideration clauses (i) and (iii) of ara.4 of the Trade Notice dated 17 June 2011), on prorata basis with ceiling of 4250 metric tonnes per IEC and floor of 100 metric tonnes per IEC as already provided in clause (ii) of para.4 of the said Trade Notice. Allocation in terms of this direction shall be done by 27 July 2011.

5. It is clarified that parties who had applied earlier for export quantity of less than 100 metric tonnes will be deemed to have applied for 100 metric tonnes. 5 wp-4743-11.sxw

6. After arriving at such prorata allocation it will be open to the respondents to round off the quantities of cotton bales to the extent of 25 metric tonnes (i.e. 150 cotton bales or one container load). In other words allocation to parties who applied upto 25 June 2011 will be in multiplies of 25 metric tonnes. In case the allocation as worked out on prorata basis comes to a fraction of one container load, it will be rounded off to the nearest integer.

7. It is clarified that these directions except direction No.(3) will applly to all parties who applied upto 25 June 2011 and direction No.(3) will apply to parties who applied from 26 June 2011 to 5 July 2011 (both days inclusive) irrespective of the fact whether they have filed Writ Petitions before any Court.

8. Trade Notice dated 6 July 2011 had already made reference to the present litigation. In order to ensure that the respondents are in a position to carry out the above directions for reallocation without taking into consideration clauses (i) and (iii) of para.4 of the Trade Notice dated 17 June 2011 we direct that until the D.G.F.T., carries out this exercise for reallocation, no party shall be permitted to export in excess of 1000 metric tonnes of cotton bales pursuant to the allocation made as per Annexure-1 to the Trade Notice dated 6 July 2011, which will stand modified upon allocation to be made as per direction No.(4) hereinabove..

9. Having regard to the fact that the Trade Notice dated 17 June 2011 has been subject matter of litigation before this Court and other Courts the last date for submission of document, scrutiny and issue of 6 wp-4743-11.sxw registration certificate which was earlier scheduled to be 15 July 2011 shall now stand extended upto 8 August 2011.

10. We clarify that these directions are for the limited purpose of the current cotton season for the quantity of 10.00 lakh cotton bales (difference between 65.00 lakhs bales permitted by Notification dated 9 June 2011 minus 55.00 lakh bales permitted by the previous Notification) and will not come in the way of the Central Government formulating appropriate policy for the subsequent years.

11. All the Writ Petitions are accordingly allowed in the above terms. In view of the disposal of the Writ Petitions, all the Civil Applications are also disposed of accordingly. All interim orders are vacated. Liberty to apply in case of difficulty. Copy of this order be forwarded to the Registrars of Nagpur and Aurangabad Benches of this Court. All the parties to act on an ordinary copy of this order duly authenticated by the Associate of this Court. CHIEF JUSTICE GIRISH S. GODBOLE, J.