B.N. KARIA, J.

1. By means of filing this writ application under Articles 14, 19, 226, 265 and 300A of the Constitution of India, the petitioners, inter alia, seek the following reliefs :

“(A) to issue a writ of certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, quashing and setting aside the decision of the respondent no. 2 in rejecting the proposal for extension/renewal as recorded at item 78.5 (ii) of the minutes of meeting, held on 3rd July 2017 and the covering letter dated 14th July 2017 communicating the said decision with all consequential benefits and relief ;

(B) to issue a writ of mandamus or any other appropriate writ, order or direction to the respondents, their servants and agents, to allow the request made by the petitioners vide letters dated 7th October 2013 and 30th October 2013 requesting extension/renewal of their Letter of Approval and to permit the petitioners to continue their operation for the factory located at the address shown in the cause title of the petition;

(C) Pending hearing and final disposal of the present petition, be pleased to stay implementation and execution of the decision of the respondent no. 2 in refusing renewal and extension and be further pleased to direct the respondents, their servants and agents to allow the petitioner to continue their SEZ operations in accordance with the Letter of Approval dated 15th May 1996 with all facilities and benefits available under the SEZ Scheme.

(D) An ex parte ad interim relief in terms of prayer 25 (C) above may kindly be granted.”

2. Brief facts of the case are as follows :

Petitioner no. 1 is a partnership firm engaged in the business of reprocessing of plastic waste/scrap and also in manufacture of textile products from the used clothing, and whereas, the petitioner no. 2 is one of its partner (hereinafter referred to as, “the petitioner-firm”). The petitioner-firm has its manufacturing unit situated within Kandla Special Economic Zone (“SEZ” for brevity), since 1996. The petitioner-firm was earlier functioning under the name of M/s. Varsha Exports and then M/s. Anshita Exports. The petitioner firm was granted Letter of Approval (“LOA” for brevity) dated 15th May 1996 by the respondent-authorities permitting the petitioner to function within the SEZ for manufacture of plastic bags, etc., out of the plastic waste/scrap. Subsequently, the said LOA was amended from time to time, permitting the petitioner-firm to manufacture reprocessed plastic agglomerates out of the waste and scrap and for recycling/reconditioning of the old and used clothes. The said LOA was subsequently divided into two separate permissions for both the aforesaid nature of works. Thus, upto 2005-2006, the petitioner-firm was extensively involved in both the business of recycling of plastic waste/scrap as well as in the production of textile products from the use clothes. However, by a communication dated 15th December 2005, the petitioner-firm was put to notice that respondent-Ministry would conduct a detailed examination of the Unit and thereafter, functioning of plastic recycling would be allowed for a short term. Thus, subject to inspection of the petitioner-firm’s unit, the respondent issued LOA for shorter periods intermittently between 2005-2006 and 2011-2012. Resultantly, it became difficult for the petitioner-firm to continue business in the normal course. However, on 17th September 2013, a policy regarding functioning of Units engaged in plastic recycling business came to be finalized and published, and as a consequence thereof, Ministry of Commerce & Industry call upon all the Zonal Development Commissioners for listing all the cases relating to extension of LOA of units engaged in the business of plastic reprocessing for consideration in a meeting. To the dismay of the petitioner-firm, its case was not put up for consideration before the Board of Approval, and whereas, case of 19 similarly situated units situated within Kandla SEZ and 9 units situate