The central legal point established in the judgment is that the petitioner was entitled to invoke the input/output and value addition norms in force on the date of the receipt of the application, irrespective of the date of approval, as per the interpretation of Clause 66 of the Export-Import Policy 1992-97.

( 1 )

( 2 ) WITH the consent of the parties, the matter is taken up today for final hearing.

( 3 ) THIS writ petition challenges the denial of the benefit to the petitioner of Clause 66 of the Export-Import Policy 1992-97 which reads as follows:

"exports/supplies made from the date of receipt of an application under this scheme by the licensing authority may be accepted towards discharge of export obligation. If the application is approved, the licence shall be issued based on the input/output and value addition norms in force on the date of receipt of the application by the licensing authority in proportion to the provisional exports already made till any amendment in the norms is notified. For the remainder of the exports, the Policy/procedure in force on the date of issue of the licence shall be applicable. The conversion of duty free shipping bills to drawback shipping bills may also be permitted by the Customs authorities in case the application is rejected or modified by the licensing authority. The exports/ supplies made in anticipation of the grant of a duty free licence shall be entirely on the risk and responsibility of the exporter. "2. The case set out in the writ petition is:

THAT the petitioner made an application for the grant of Advance Licence under the Value Based Advance Licence scheme (hereinafter referred to as the "vasal") on 18th of march, 1997. On 21st of March, 1997, the application was approved and sent for processing and on 22nd of March, 1997, the electronic goods were exported by the petitioner entitling it to Value Based Free Licence in the sum of US $ 28,545. The customs clearance was obtained on 28th of march, 1997 and the goods were despatched on 29th of March, 1997. 3. One of the significant pleas in the writ petition is at para 11 of the petition which reads as under:

"that it is submitted that the said application of the petitioner was approved by the respondent no. 1 on 21/03/1997 and the directions were issued for proceeding the grant of value based licence to the petitioner. "4. The said averment was rebutted by the respondents in their counter affidavit in the following terms:

"the contents of Para 11 of the petition are wrong and denied as the same are incorrect information. "thus it is clear that there is no categorical denial of the petitioner s plea that the application of the petitioner was approved by the respondent No. 1 on 21st of march, 1997. However, without going into the veracity of the above, the petitioner s case purely turns on the interpretation of Clause 66 of the Policy.

( 4 ) MR. Malhotra, the learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the phrase "if the application is approved, the licence shall be issued based on the input/output and value addition norms in force on the date of receipt of the application" entitled it to avail of the value addition norms in force on the date of the receipt of the application irrespective of the date of the approval and it is indeed a vested right in the export licence granted by the said policy. He submits that since there is no rejection of the petitioner s application whatever be the date of the approval, the petitioner is entitled to invoke the input/output and value addition norms in force on 18th of March, 1997. It appears that there was a change of policy on 1st of April, 1997 and the changed policy did not grant the Value Based Advance Licence and only approved the Quantity Based Advance Licence or duty drawback.

( 5 ) MS. Pratibha M. Singh, the learned counsel, appearing for the respondents, however, has submitted that the petitioner had two options as per the Policy Circular dated 1st of April, 1997, the Para 3 of which reads as under:

"however, in respect of pending applications filed before 1. 4. 97 for issuance of Value Based Advance Licence where such licences have not, been issued before 1. 4. 97, the applicant shall have the option to convert their application into Advance Licence in accordance with th