IMPORTANT POINT
An undertaking given to Court is not an obligation imposed by the Court and acting upon its own undertaking to Court creates no equity in favour of the party giving it, nor is it a special or peculiar circumstance.

JUDGMENT

Bharucha, J.-The correctness of the order of the High Court of Delhi dismissing the writ petition filed by the appellants before it is under challenge.

2. The appellants imported liquid caustic soda in bulk, on which Customs, auxilliary and counteravailing duty was payable at the aggregate rate of 92.5. per cent. The State Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Corporation of India Ltd. (the 3rd respondents) also imported caustic soda but were required to pay duty thereon only at the rate of 10 per cent because of an exemption granted to them in the public interest under the terms of Section 25(2) of the Customs Act. The writ petition was filed by the appellants on the ground that there was discrimination; the appellants were also entitled to the exemption granted to the 3rd respondents. The writ petition prayed for the grant of such exemption; and, in the alternative, that the exemption in favour of the 3rd respondents should be declared null and void.

3. It is not now in dispute that the case would stand covered by the judgment of this Court in M. Jhangir Bhatusha and Ors. v. Union of India & Others1, but for the appellant s argument that there were special or peculiar circumstances which created an equity in its favour.

4. Learned counsel for the appellants relied upon the following passage in Jhangir Bhatusha s case :

"13. First, as to the contention that both the reasons set forth in the exemption notifications under Section 25(2) of the Act are without foundation. It seems to us that the two reasons set forth in the exemption notifications can constitute a reasonable basis for those notifications. It does appear from the material before us that international prices were fluctuating, and although they may have shown a perceptible fall there was the apprehension that because of the history of fluctuations there was a possibility of their rising in the future. The need to protect the domestic market is always present, and therefore encouragement had to be given to the imports effected by the State Trading Corporation by reducing the rate of customs duty levied on them. This involved a long term perspective, since the exclusive monopoly to import these edible oils was now entrusted to the State Trading Corporation. What appears to have dominated the policy of the government in issuing the exemption notifications was the consideration that the domestic prices of vanaspati should be maintained at reasonable levels. It cannot be doubted that the entire edible oil market is an integrated one, and that it is not reasonable to treat any one of the edible oils or vanaspati in isolation. It is a well accepted fact that vanaspati manufacturers constitute a powerful organised sector in the edible oil market, and a high vanaspati price would encourage an unauthorised diversion of the edible oils to vanaspati manufacturing units, resulting in a scarcity in the edible oil market, giving rise to erratic prices and depriving consumers of access to edible oils. The need for preventing vanaspati prices ruling high was also to prevent people normally using vanaspati rom switching over to other edible oils, thus leading to an imbalance in the oil market. An overall view made it necessary to ensure that domestic prices of vanaspati remained at reasonable levels. To all these considerations the learned Attorney General has drawn our attention, and we cannot say that they are not reasonably related to the policy underlying the exemption orders. So that the government would have sufficient supplies of edible at hand in order to feed the market, the learned Attorney General says, it was considered desirable and in the public interest to reduce the rate of customs duty to 5 per cent on the imports made by the State Trading Corporation. Now it is the Central Government which has to be satisfied, as the authority appointed by Parliament under Section 25(2), that it is necessary in the public interest to make the special orders of exemption. It has set out