W.P.(C) Nos. 8625/2023, 10144/2023 & 8631/2023

Page 1 of 30

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

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Judgment delivered on: 20.10.2023

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W.P.(C) 8625/2023 & CM Nos. 32737/2023 & 41909/2023

ASFIVE AGRO PRIVATE LIMITED

& ORS

..... Petitioners

versus

UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

..... Respondents

Advocates who appeared in this case:

For the Petitioners

: Mr Ashish Batra, Advocate.

For the Respondents

: Mr George Pothan Poothicote, Ms Sindhu

Acharya and Mr Arprit Mallick, Advoates for

R-1.

Mr Kirtiman Singh, CGSC with Mr Waize

Ali Noor, Ms Shreya V. Mehra, Mr Taha

Yasin, Mr Varun Rajwat and Mr Madhav

Bajaj, Advocates of R-2.

AND

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W.P.(C) 10144/2023 & CM APPL. 39327/2023, 39328/2023

& 39329/2023

BAGADIYA BROTHERS PRIVATE LTD. ..... Petitioner

versus

UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

..... Respondents

Advocates who appeared in this case:

For the Petitioner

: Mr Alok Agarwal, Mr Naveen Chawla, Mr

Mayank Bughani and Ms Surabhi Rana,

Advocates.

Digitally Signed

By:DUSHYANT

RAWAL

Signing Date:20.10.2023

Signature Not Verified

W.P.(C) Nos. 8625/2023, 10144/2023 & 8631/2023

Page 2 of 30

For the Respondents

: Mr Vineet Dhanda, CGSC.

Ms Peehu Singh Hooda, Advocate for Mr

Aditya Singla, SSC.

AND

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W.P.(C) 8631/2023 & CM Nos. 32749/2023 & 32943/2023

BAGADIYA BROTHERS PRIVATE

LTD.

..... Petitioner

versus

UNION OF INDIA AND ORS.

..... Respondents

Advocates who appeared in this case:

For the Petitioner

: Mr Alok Agarwal, Mr Naveen Chawla, Mr

Mayank Bughani and Ms Surabhi Rana,

Advocates.

For the Respondents

: Mr Vineet Dhanda, CGSC.

Ms Peehu Singh Hooda, Advocate for Mr

Aditya Singla, SSC.

CORAM

HON’BLE MR JUSTICE VIBHU BAKHRU

HON’BLE MR JUSTICE AMIT MAHAJAN

JUDGMENT

VIBHU BAKHRU, J.

1.

The petitioners in these set of petitions are inter alia engaged in

the business of trading in rice. They impugn Trade Notice no. 08/2023

dated 20.06.2023 (hereafter ‘the impugned Trade Notice’) issued by

the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (hereafter DGFT), inter alia,

Digitally Signed

By:DUSHYANT

RAWAL

Signing Date:20.10.2023

Signature Not Verified

W.P.(C) Nos. 8625/2023, 10144/2023 & 8631/2023

Page 3 of 30

setting out the conditions of eligibility and procedure for allocation of

quota for export of broken rice on humanitarian food security grounds.

2.

The petitioners are, essentially, aggrieved by the conditions that

restrict the eligibility for securing allocation of quota to only those

exporters, who had exported rice to the countries in question (Senegal,

Gambia and Indonesia) in the three preceding financial years. The

petitioners state that they have a verifiable track record of exporting

rice, thus, restricting the eligibility to export rice only to those persons

that had exported rice to the specified countries offends Article 14 and

Article 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India.

3.

Export of broken rice, which is otherwise proscribed, has been

permitted to certain countries (Senegal, Gambia and Indonesia) in

limited quantities on humanitarian grounds and to address the food

security concerns of those nations.

4.

Whilst the quantitative restriction as imposed for the export of

broken rice to the countries in question is not challenged, the petitioners

contend that excluding all rice exporters with established track record

from applying for a quota to export to those countries, is discriminatory

and also curtails the freedom to carry on legitimate trade.

Factual Matrix

5.

Prior to 08.09.2022, export of broken rice (HS Code 1006 40 00)

was classified as ‘free’ under the export policy.

Digitally Signed

By:DUSHYANT

RAWAL

Signing Date:20.10.2023

Signature Not Verified

W.P.(C) Nos. 8625/2023, 10144/2023 & 8631/2023

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6.

However, on 08.09.2022, the Central Government issued a

Notification (Notification no.31/2015-2020) in exercise of powers

under Section 3 of the Foreign T