ASFIVE AGRO PRIVATE LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners in these set of petitions are inter alia engaged in the business of trading in rice. They impugn Trade Notice no. 08/2023 dtd. 20/6/2023 (hereafter 'the impugned Trade Notice') issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (hereafter DGFT), inter alia, setting out the conditions of eligibility and procedure for allocation of quota for export of broken rice on humanitarian food security grounds.

(2.) The petitioners are, essentially, aggrieved by the conditions that restrict the eligibility for securing allocation of quota to only those exporters, who had exported rice to the countries in question (Senegal, Gambia and Indonesia) in the three preceding financial years. The petitioners state that they have a verifiable track record of exporting rice, thus, restricting the eligibility to export rice only to those persons that had exported rice to the specified countries offends Article 14 and Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India.

(3.) Export of broken rice, which is otherwise proscribed, has been permitted to certain countries (Senegal, Gambia and Indonesia) in limited quantities on humanitarian grounds and to address the food security concerns of those nations.