RAM LUBHAYA KAPUR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal under clause 10 of the Letters Patent is directed against the judgment of a learned Single Judge dated November 25, 1970, dismissing the appellants' Civil Writ No. 2721 of 1970.

(2.) APPELLANT No. 1 is the sole proprietor of New Peal Textile Industries, Kashmir Road, Amritsar, who installed nine handlooms in the beginning of 1968 and started production as from April 13, 1968. Appellants Nos. 2 and 3 are partnership firms which installed eight and twelve handlooms and started production and manufacture of woolen shoddy blankets as from April 13, 1968, and April 1, 1968, respectively. The appellants are registered as small scale Industrial units in the decentralised sector with the Director of Small Scale Industries at Amritsar after due verification as working units actually engaged in the production of shoddy woolen blankets and goods. The raw material to produce the shoddy blankets consists of the yarn spun from imported shoddy wool and woolen rags and indigenous wool. The shoddy wool and woolen rags are now imported from foreign countries by the State Trading Corporation alone as a result of the policy of canalisation announced by the Government of India on November 25, 1967. Prior thereto, the said material was imported by the spinning mills only which, after turning shoddy wool and woolen rags into yarn, used to distribute the same to the actual users. The appellants have set out in detail the history of the import of the shoddy wool and woolen rags in their writ petition with which we are not now concerned.

(3.) ON February 17, 1968, the Government of India issued a letter to the Director of Industries of each State, copies of which were endorsed to the Regional Textile Commissioner, the State Trading Corporation, and the Secretary, Handlooms Shoddy Weavers and Processors Association, Amritsar (respondent 5), to collect the requisite data to enable the Government of India to decide about the quantum of shoddy wool and woolen rags to be allocated to each particular unit falling in the basic period from October, 1959 to September 1963. Since the collection of the data took time, respondent No. 5 made a representation to the Minster of Foreign Trade, Government of India, New Delhi, on March 19, 1970, that the basic period should be altered to include the period from October, 1959, to September 1967, in order to enable all small scale units, who had established themselves with hard labour after the year 1963 to the date of the announcement of the new shoddy policy, to share in the quota of imported shoddy wool and woolen rags so that they should not be uprooted and thrown out of the trade. A request was made that-"in the interest of the small scale handloom shoddy weaving industry in the decentralised sector at large, all units who had established themselves after 1959 till the date of the announcement of the Government policy and are continuously using shoddy on handlooms before the announcement of the Government policy as referred to above should be covered under this policy and the best year of their consumption as per the accounting period should be taken as the basis for fixing up their entitlement. " On July 8, 1970 the Government of India, Ministry of Foreign Trade, issued the following Press Note:- "it has been decided by the Government of India in the Ministry of Foreign Trade that allocations of shoddy raw material will be made to the woolen shoddy handloom units on the basis of past consumption of shoddy yarn by them during certain basic period. The basic period fixed for this purpose is from October, 1959, to September, 1967. Shoddy handlooms, whether in the organised or in the decentralised sector have a choice to select any one year (October to September) of their best performance during the period October, 1959. to September, 1967, for allocation of raw material on the basis of consumption of shoddy yarn in that year. The above benefits shall be admissible to those handloom units which were in operation during the years preceding September, 1967 but not to those units which were in operation during the 1963 or 1964 but were not working effectively during the subsequent years. The handloom shoddy units are, therefore, requested to furnish their records regarding consumption of woolen shoddy yarn (with documentary evidence) to the concerned Regional Offices of the Textile Commissioner at Bombay, Calcutta, Kanpur, Amritsar, Ahmedabad and Coimbatore, within one month from the date of issue of this Press Note. " From the Press Note it is abundantly clear that the small scale industrial units, like the appellants, which were established after September, 1967 were deprived of the quota of the imported shoddy wool and woolen rags. This Press Note is stated to be for the licensing year 1970-71, that is, from April 1, 1970, to March 31, 1971. The appellants filed C. W. 2721 of 1970, challenging the validity of the said Press Note and their exclusion from the allotment of the quota out of the imported shoddy wool and woolen rags on various grounds.