JUDGMENT

Yashwant Varma, J.

1. The petitioner, a manufacturer of arms has approached this Court seeking release of 'Frames' and 'Slides' which had been imported under Bill of Entry No. 9037350 dated 09 June 2022 and Bill of Entry No. 9038081 of the same date, aggrieved by the fact that the said consignments had been withheld by the Customs authorities. When the writ petition was initially entertained the Court had noted that the petitioner had been duly granted the requisite import permission by the competent authority in the office of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade [DGFT]. During the course of consideration, it came to the fore that although the petitioner`s consignment had been duly inspected by the Delhi Police in terms of the statutory obligation placed by Rule 88(5) of the Arms Rules 2016 [the 2016 Rules], certain queries came to be raised and clarifications were sought from the DGFT. The DGFT in turn is stated to have approached the Ministry of Home Affairs [MHA] for providing appropriate clarifications. When the matter was thereafter taken up on 26 July 2022, the Court was informed that MHA had apprised the DGFT that the petitioner had breached the terms and cond