P N BALASUBRAMANIAN Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The question for consideration is whether the general rule of interpretation of statutes that a procedural enactment is presumed to be retrospective in its operation is affected by section 6 of the General Clauses Act and if so, to what extent. The statutory background of the question is as follows:

(2.) The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 (briefly called the repeated Act or the Act of 1947) was repealed by the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (briefly called the repealing Act or the Act of 1973). The petitioner had entered into certain foreign exchange transaction from 1959 to the end of 1973 when the repealed Act was in force. On 31st May 1974, after the repealing Act came into force on 1st January 1974, a notice was issued by the Deputy Director of the Enforcement Directorate to the petitioner under section 33(2) of the repealing Act asking him to furnish certain information and documents from 1959 to the date of the notice in relation to the dealings of the petitioner in foreign exchange during that period.

(3.) The validity of the notice is challenged by this writ petition. The grounds of challenge originally stated in the writ petition and summarised in the rejoinder were further reshaped by Shri R. K. Garg, learned counsel for the petitioner, in the light of our observations. The grounds urged by him in the argument may be stated as follows: