ESSAR SHIPPING LIMITED Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner is a company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 and, inter alia, engaged in the business of rendering maritime transport services.

(2.) The first respondent is the Union of India and the other 4 (four) respondents are the officers of the first respondent, who are obliged to exercise powers and discharge duties in terms of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 (hereafter "the FTDR Act ", for short). Thereunder, the Central Government announces the Foreign Trade Policy (hereafter "FTP ", for short) from time to time. For the purposes of the present writ petition, the relevant FTP is for the period 2004-2009 (hereafter FTP 2004-09, for short).

(3.) By instituting this writ petition, the petitioner seeks to challenge Policy Circular No.25 of 2007 dtd. 1/1/2008 (hereafter "the said Circular ", for short) issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade (hereafter "DGFT ", for short), the second respondent. According to the petitioner, in the garb of purported clarification, the DGFT has curtailed benefits available to service providers, such as the petitioner, under the Served from India Scheme (hereafter "SFI Scheme ", for short). Consequent upon the said Circular, the Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, Bengaluru, the third respondent, vide demand notice dtd. 28/1/2010 (hereafter "demand notice ", for short) and reminder dtd. 31/5/2010 (hereafter "reminder ", for short), post-facto and retrospectively, directed the petitioner to pay customs duty and interest on the basis of the benefits already availed and utilized by the petitioner on account of its entitlement under the SFI Scheme, in a sum of Rs.27,40,35,827.00.