JUDGMENT

S.B. Sinha, J.—Delay condoned.

2. Leave granted.

3. Interpretation and/or application of the Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme 1998 framed under the Finance (No.2) Act, 1998 is in question in this appeal which arises out of a judgment and order dated 20.01.2005 passed by the High Court of Madras in Crl.OP Nos.31422 and 36254 of 2004.

4. Shorn of all unnecessary details, the fact of the matter is as under :

One M/s Best Fabrics (for short, ‘the Company’) had applied for an advance licence on 29.01.1993 from the Office of the Joint Director General of Foreign Trade, Chennai for import of cotton fabrics showing the export order for 47136 sets of ‘cotton mens ensemble’ under the ‘Duty Exemption Entitlement Certificate’ (for short, ‘the Scheme’). Upon scrutiny the application, a recommendation, however, was made to allow the said company to import ‘cotton fabrics of 44 inch widths’. As the item was not figuring in the standard input and output norms book, the file was placed before Respondent No. 1, Smt. Sashi Balasubramanian, by Sri V. Rajpriyan, Respondent No. 2 herein, for placing before the Zonal Advance Licensing Committee for recommendations as regards quantity and de