The main legal point established is that the Central Government is competent to issue amendments to the Import Policy under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, and the alleged signature of the Director General of Foreign Trade does not invalidate such amendments.

JUDGMENT

(Prayer:Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for issuance of a Writ of Certiorari, calling for the records of the first respondent, leading to issuance of Notification No.17/2015-20 dated 29.07.2016, as the same is ultravires the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, the judgment of the Hon''ble Apex Court in case of M/s.Kanak Exports reported in (2016) 1 SCC 226 and the judgment of this Court in WP No.5019 of 2016 dated 05.04.2016.)

1. The Notification No.17/2015-20 dated 29.07.2016 issued by the Central Government under Section 3 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, is under challenge in the present writ petition.

2. The petitioner M/s.M.R.Impex is a registered dealer under Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act. The petitioner is an Assessee under the Income Tax Act and conducting business of import of Poppy Seeds from China and Turkey. The import of Poppy Seeds from China and Turkey was being permitted in terms of the Foreign Trade Policy in force from time to time, which envisaged submission of import contracts for specified quantities to the Office of the fourth respondent, who on receipt of the same, would register the said contract, pursuant to which imports were permitted in respect of the quantity mentioned in the said contracts.

3. The grievance of the petitioner is that the impugned Amendment in the Import Policy Condition No.3 of Chapter 12 of ITC (HS) 2012 – Schedule I (Import Policy) has been issued in the Gazette of India Extraordinary Part II, Section 3, Sub Section (ii) dated 29.07.2016.

4. The petitioner states that the amendment Notification issued by the Director General of Foreign Trade is without jurisdiction and he being not the Competent Authority, the amendment is to be set aside.

5. It is reiterated that the Director General of Foreign Trade is not the Authority to send the Gazette Notification issued by the Central Government, which is impugned in the present writ petition.

6. The learned Central Government Sanding Counsel made a submission that the Notification is always issued by the Central Government and not by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is only signing the Notification on behalf of the Central Government. Therefore, the grounds raised by the petitioner are untenable.

7. Let us consider the requirement of Section 3 (1) of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulations) Act, 1992, which stipulates that “The Central Government may, by Order published in the Official Gazette, make provision for the development and regulation of foreign trade by facilitating imports and increasing exports”. Thus the Central Government is competent to issue regulations of foreign trade by facilitating imports and increasing exports.

8. In the present case, the amendment was made subject to Import Policy Condition No.3 of Chapter 12 of the ITC (HS), 2012 Schedule I (Import Policy). The Gazette Notification Extraordinary unambiguously stipulates that “In exercise of powers conferred by Section 3 of Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992, read with paragraphs 1.02 and 2.01 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-2020, as amended from time to time, the Central Government hereby amends the Import Policy Condition No.3 of Chapter 12 of ITC (HS), 2012, Schedule I (Import Policy) which at present reads as under:

“2. (3) Import of Poppy Seeds (HS Code : 120791 00) shall be allowed subject to the following conditions:

(a) Import permitted only from Australia, Austria, France, China, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Turkey and Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Democratic People''s Republic of Korea, Macedonia, Germany and Ukraine;

(b) The importer shall produce an appropriate certificate from the Competent Authority of the exporting country that Opium Poppy have been grown licitly / legally in that country, and

(c) All import contracts for this item shall compulsorily be regi