Judgment

P.K. Balasubramanyan, J.—Leave granted in SLP (Crl.) No. 5892/2004.

1. On receipt of notices under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as the FERA) for showing cause why adjudication proceedings for imposition of penalty under Sections 50 and 51 of the FERA be not initiated against the appellant bank and some of its officers and further notices under Section 61 of the FERA giving an opportunity to the first appellant bank and its officers of showing that they had the necessary permission from the concerned authority for the transaction involved, the appellant bank filed Writ Petition No. 1972 of 1994, seeking a declaration that the relevant sections of the FERA are unconstitutional, being violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India and for writs of prohibition restraining the authorities under the FERA from proceeding with the proposed adjudication and the proposed prosecution, in terms of the Act. Yet another writ petition was filed by the officers of the bank as CWP No. 2377 of 1996 challenging the individual notices. The High Court of Bombay rejected the challenge to the constitutional validity of Sections 50, 51, 56 and 68