Judgement:

K.G. BALAKRISHNAN, J.- Leave granted.

2. The appellant in Civil Appeal No. 1748 of 1999 filed a writ petition before the High Court of Bombay challenging various notices issued to them under Section 50 read with Section 51 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (for short the FERA Act) and contended that the appellant Company was not liable to be prosecuted for the offence under Section 56 of the FERA Act. In this appeal filed against the judgment of the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court dated 7-11-1998, the appellant contends that no criminal proceedings can be initiated against the appellant Company for the offence under Section 56(1) of the FERA Act as the minimum punishment prescribed under Section 56(1)(/) is imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months and with fine. Section 56 of the FERA Act, 1973 reads as follows:

"56. Offences and prosecutions.-(1) Without prejudice to any award of penalty by the adjudicating officer under this Act, if any person contravenes any of the provisions of this Act other than Section 13, clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 18, Section 18-A, clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 19, sub-section (2) o