LARSEN AND TOUBRO LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) RULE. Rule is made returnable forthwith. By consent, taken up for final hearing.

(2.) HAVING issued the Essentiality Certificate to the effect that certain goods are required for petroleum operations, whether the Director General of Hydrocarbons is justified in cancelling the said certificate on a wholly extraneous ground that the importer is not a bonafide subcontractor of ONGC, is the question raised in this writ petition.

(3.) IN the present case, the respondent No.7 (ONGC) is the Exploration & Production Company who has been nominated by the Government of India for exploration and development. The ONGC had appointed the petitioner No.1 (Larsen & Toubro Limited) as a subcontractor for executing the petroleum project. At the instance of the petitioner No.1, the ONGC through the Customs sought the Essentiality Certificate for import of certain goods required for petroleum operations from the DGH, so that clearance of the above goods could be obtained at Nil rate of duty as per Notification No.21/02 dated 132002.