JUDGMENT :

MILIND N. JADHAV, J.

1. Rule. By consent of parties heard finally. Heard Mr. Prasad Paranjape along with Mr. Sanjeev Nair, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner and Mr. Pradeep S. Jetly, learned senior counsel along with Mr. J.B. Mishra on behalf of the Respondents.

2. Petitioner is the proprietor of Sunteck Telecommunications carrying on business of manufacturing optical fibres and having its registered office at GAT No. 2347/B, Pune-Nagar Road, Opposite Hotel Parijat Dhabha, Wagholi, Taluka Haveli, District Pune-411 207.

3. By the present Writ Petition, the Petitioner has prayed for the following reliefs:

“(a) that this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue a Writ of Certiorari or a writ in the nature of Certiorari and/or any other appropriate writ, order or direction under Article 226 and Article 227 of the Constitution of India calling for the records and papers of the Petitioner's case and after examining the legality and validity thereof be pleased to quash and set aside the order dated 03.06.2020 passed by the Respondent No. 3.

(b) that this Hon'ble Court be pleased to issue a mandamus or a writ in the nature of mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or direction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India ordering and directing the Respondents themselves, their officers and subordinates to forthwith:

(i) withdraw and/or cancel impugned order dated 03.06.2020 passed by Respondent No. 3.

(ii) allow the Application File Nos. (i) 31/21/090/83127/AM/18 dated 06. 10.2017 for Rs. 13,79,489, (ii) 31/21/090/83130/AM/18 dated 06.10.2017 for Rs. 24,30,571, (iii) 31/21/090/83131/AM/18 dated 06.10.2017 for Rs. 26,31,313 and (iv) 31/21/090/83133/AM/18 dated 06.10.2017 for Rs. 2,83,604 of the Petitioner and issue the Duty Credit Scrip under MEIS under FTP 2015-20 as applied by the Petitioner for exports effected by him.”

4. Petitioner has challenged the order dated 03.06.2020 passed by the Respondent No. 3-the Director General of Foreign Trade, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi-by which the Petitioner’s applications for issuance of Duty Credit Scrips under the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (for short “MEIS”) have been rejected. Petitioner has further prayed for considering the Petitioner’s case for seeking Duty Credit Scrips under the MEIS in accordance with law.

5. Before we advert to the submissions made by the respective counsel, it will be apposite to refer to the relevant facts briefly:

5.1. Respondent No. 1 - The Union of India, through the Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi-announced MEIS as part of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 in order to accelerate growth in export of goods from India in exercise of powers conferred upon it under the provisions of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 (for short “FTDR Act”).

5.2. Petitioner, in the regular course of business, purportedly supplied Single Mode Optical Fibers G642D - Natural (for short “the export goods”) to an Overseas Buyer, Technocraft Engineering LLC, Dubai, UAE (for short “the Overseas Buyer”). As per instructions of the Overseas Buyer, Petitioner delivered the export goods to Siddhartha Logistics Co. Pvt. Ltd. a unit located in the Free Trade and Warehousing Zone (FTWZ) in Sri City Multi-Product SEZ/FTWZ, Chittor District, Satyavedu Mandal, Andhra Pradesh (for short “the FTWZ unit”) under four bills of export bearing no. 0000004 dated 08.01.2016, no. 0000016 dated 08.02.2016, no. 0000027 dated 02.03.2016 and no. 0000028 dated 03.03.2016.

5.3. According to the Petitioner, the export goods were warehoused in the FTWZ unit on instructions of the Overseas Buyer and were later exported by the FTWZ unit to Taiwan.

5.4. Petitioner made an application dated 15.06.2017 to the Respondent No. 4-the Joint Director General of Foreign Trade-fo