VARDARIA EXPORTERS Vs. JOINT DIRECTOR OF FOREIGN TRADE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ petition has been filed challenging the order in original passed by the respondent under Foreign Trade(Development and Regulation) Act , 1992.

(2.) The grievance of the petitioner is that, the petitioner is an exporter and he was granted with 16 licences under the Exim Policy formulated under the Foreign Trade Act , all the advance licences were granted with a condition that the imported raw materials would be exempted from the levy of customs duty and guarantee for repayment of customs duty, in the event of non-fulfilment of export obligation. Out of 16 licences, 15 licences were redeemed. With regard to the 16 th license, 70% of the export obligation already stands completed and the remaining could not be completed in view of the requisition for extension of the period was under consideration of the authorities.

(3.) Earlier the respondent issued a show cause notice dated 13.02.2002 under Section 14 r/w Section 11(2) of the Foreign Trade Act, 1992, for which the petitioner has submitted a detailed explanation. Thereafter, after conducting an enquiry, a final order of adjudication has been passed on 10.10.2003, by the respondent, holding that in respect of 15 licenses there are minor violations which did not cause any revenue loss, and also held that it could not be held as a malafide violation and imposed a fiscal penalty of Rs.1,00,000/-. So far as the 16th licence is concerned it was deleted from the order, and the matter was remitted back to the licensing section for monitoring of the export obligation as per the Handbook of procedures.