ARJUN SAHLOT Vs. UOI AND ORS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has preferred the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India to seek the quashing of the communication dated 20.01.2011 issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India impleaded as respondent No. 1 herein, whereby the petitioner's request to include Austria/Germany as country of origin in the import license No. 0550001294 dated 25.11.2008 has been rejected on the ground that the request for amendment had been filed with the DGFT on 09.12.2010, whereas the validity of the import license aforesaid had expired on 25.11.2010.

(2.) The petitioner-Master Arjun Sahlot claims to be a Child National Champion of India of Equestrian Sports. The petitioner has placed on record certificates of various awards won by him in Equestrian Championships held in India. The case of the petitioner is that to build his career in the said sport, the petitioner intended to import three sport horses. The petitioner approached the DGFT for grant of import license. The petitioner was, accordingly, granted an import license dated 25.11.2008 for import of three horses of CIF/FOB value in Rs.3,12,280/-. The import license described the name of the item as "3 Nos. of Horse (Hanoverian) from Australia subject to fulfillment of the conditions laid down in D/C AHD&F Notification No. 522(E) dt. 24.7.2002 and fulfillment of quarantine regulations in force and subject to actual user condition besides other applicable conditions of import licence". The import license was valid for a period of twenty four months. (emphasis supplied)

(3.) It appears that the petitioner imported three horses from Germany/Austria on 08.09.2010 at New Delhi Airport. These horses arrived in India on 08.09.2010 and remained in Isolation Animal Shed at Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport till 28.12.2010 without showing any sign of disease and they were shifted to the Quarantine Station of respondent No. 2, i.e. the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India on 28.12.2010. Since then they are at the Quarantine Station or respondent No. 2.