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TMI Blog2009 (5) TMI 500X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the goods the petitioner was severely prejudiced and as the particulars could not be provided by the agent, in the first week of March, 2009 the petitioner made enquiries with the authorities, but without any effect. On 18th March, 2009 a letter demanding justice was issued, but it went unheeded. Aggrieved, the writ petition was filed. In the light of the various decisions held that- Hence, as the petitioner gave an undertaking, was given opportunity to represent, knew about the statutory consequences of non-payment of penalty and as suspension is consequential and in view of the provisions contained in Section 11(4), no further opportunity to represent or hearing is required before an order of suspension under the Act is passed. Therefore, the writ petition is dismissed. - 5572(W) of 2009 - - - Dated:- 15-5-2009 - Soumitra Pal, J. S/Shri Bhaskar Sen, Sr. Advocate, Jishnu Chaudhury, Amit Agarwala and Samit Rudra, for the Petitioner. S/Shri Somenath Bose, Bhaskar Prasad Banerjee and Shakeel Md. Akhtar, for the Respondent. [Judgment]. - Jessop Co. Limited is the petitioner no.1 and the petitioner no. 2 is its principal officer. The petitioner no.1 (for short ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... elopment and Regulation) Act, 1992 (for short "the Act") and violation of natural justice. Since suspension of I.E.C. is discretionary as evident from the word 'may' appearing in Section 11(4) and has civil consequences, before passing the order of suspension, the respondents should have adhered to the principles of natural justice and fair play which are inherent by giving an opportunity to the petitioner to represent in any manner which is not a useless formality. Where order of suspension under Section 11(4) of the Act is passed, the conditions stipulated in Section 8 of the Act are required to be followed. Since order of suspension has civil consequences, the provisions contained in Section 8 has to be read into Section 11(4). Reliance was placed on the following judgments in support of his contentions which are as under:- (1) M/s. Erusian Equipment and Chemicals Ltd. v. State of West Bengal and another: AIR 1975 SC 266. (2) C.B. Gautam v. Union of India and others: (1993) 1 SCC 78. (3) M/s. Southern Painters v. Fertilizers Chemicals Travancore Ltd. and another: AIR 1994 SC 1277. (4) Canara Bank and others v. Shri Debasis Das and others: AIR 2003 SC 2041. (5) Ruia C ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e action impugned is just and proper. Learned advocate for the respondents relied on the following judgments in support of his contentions :- (1) Kaushalya Rani v. Gopal Singh: AIR 1964 SC 260. (2) Raza Buland Sugar Co. Ltd. v. The Municipal Board, Rampur: AIR 1965 SC 895. (3) A.H. Magermans v. S.K. Ghose and others: AIR 1966 Calcutta 552. (4) Union of India and others v. Ex Constable Amrik Singh: AIR 1991 SC 564.. (5) Controller of Examinations and others v. G.S. Sunder and another: 1993 Supp (3) SCC 82. (6) Union of India and another v. W.N. Chadha: AIR 1993 SC 1082. (7) The Maharashtra State Financial Corporation v. M/s. Suvarna Board Mills and another: AIR 1994 SC 2657. (8) Union Bank of India v. Vishwa Mohan: (1998) 4 SCC 310. (9) M.C. Mehta v. Union of India and others: (1999) 6 SCC 237. (10) Canara Bank and others v. Shri Debasis Das and others: AIR 2003 SC 2041. (11) Union of India v. Dharamendra Textile Processors : 2008 (231) E.L.T. 3 (S.C.). (12) Haryana Financial Corporation and another v. Kailash Chandra Ahuja: (2008) 9 SCC 31. (13) Karnataka State Financial Corporation v. N. Narasimahaiah and others: (2008) 5 SCC 176. (14) Central Bank of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... der and the export and import policy for the time being in force. (2) Where any person makes or abets or attempts to make any export or import in contravention of any provision of this Act or any rules or orders made thereunder or the export and import policy, he shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding one thousand rupees or five times the value of the goods in respect of which any contravention is made or attempted to be made, whichever is more. (3) Where any person, on a notice to him by the Adjudicating Authority, admits any contravention, the Adjudicating Authority may, in such class or classes of cases and in such manner as may be prescribed, determine, by way of settlement, an amount to be paid by that person. (4) A penalty imposed under this Act may, if it is not paid, be recovered as an arrear of land revenue and the Importer-Exporter Code Number of the person concerned may, on failure to pay the penalty by him, be suspended by the Adjudicating authority till the penalty is paid. (5) ............. (6) ............. (Emphasis supplied) Section 14 is extracted hereunder: S. 14.Giving of opportunity to the owner of the goods, etc. - No order imposing a penal ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... with penal interest as provided in the Exim policy read with the Customs Act. The petitioner was informed, as evident from Paragraph 3 of the order, to deposit the penalty within fifteen days failing which the I.E.C. might be suspended without any further notice till payment of full penalty. Incidentally, I find from the order-in-original that the petitioner had failed to avail itself of the opportunity of personal hearing. Thereafter, being aggrieved by the order on 24th May, 2007 the petitioner preferred an appeal under Section 15 of the Act before the Appellate Authority. The Appellate Authority by an order dated 13th/14th August, 2008 dismissed the appeal on the ground of delay in filing the appeal and for non-fulfilment of the conditions of licence. Incidentally the authorities by an intimation dated 29th December, 2005 requested the Collector, South 24 Parganas to recover the penalty from the petitioner and its Directors as arrears of land revenue. Therefore, there is no denial of the fact that the petitioner was given the opportunity to file representation and for hearing before order was passed imposing penalty and there was compliance of natural justice. However, the ques ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be followed. Moreover, and without prejudice to the above, it is stated that the suspension of I.E.C. has civil consequences and, therefore, natural justice is required to be followed." There is no doubt that the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 is an Act relating to revenue. It is "An Act to provide for the Development and Regulation of Foreign Trade by facilitating imports into, and augmenting exports from, India and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto". It is a special enactment. In order to maintain fiscal discipline it has its own mechanism for settlement of disputes and recovery of revenue. Therefore, in such circumstances an adjudication would depend on the framework of the statute. The Supreme Court in a recent judgment in Union of India v. Dharamendra Textile Processors (supra) while dealing with a fiscal law - Central Excise Act, 1944 and the Rules framed under the Excise Act held as under :- 13. It is a well settled principle in law that the court cannot read anything into a statutory provision or a stipulated condition which is plain and unambiguous. A statute is an edict of the Legislature. The language employed in a statute is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ile interpreting a provision the court only interprets the law and cannot legislate it. If a provision of law is misused and subjected to the abuse of process of law, it is for the Legislature to amend, modify or repeal it, if deemed necessary. (Emphasis supplied) 10. Therefore, it is well-settled so far as interpretation of revenue law is concerned Court has to examine what has been stipulated. There is no scope for any intentment. Nothing can be read into a provision. Application by implication does not arise. Language used has to be looked into. Regard should be to the strict letter of law. Equitable considerations have no place and interpretations cannot be on the basis of presumption or assumption. What is important is the intention of the legislature as reflected in the statute. In order to gather the intention interpretation has to be on the basis of the words used in the section. Therefore, while ascertaining the exact meaning of the legislation only the language used should be of prime consideration. 11. In such backdrop it is to be noted Section 8 is under Chapter III of the Act, Sections 11 and 14 are under Chapter IV. While Section 8 speaks of suspension or cancel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... terms of the statutory provisions" (paragraph 36). (Emphasis supplied) 12. Besides it is to be noted that there is no challenge to the provision of the Act. In view of the provisions contained in Section 11 of the Act, the principles of law laid down by the Apex Court in Eurasian Equipment and Chemicals (supra), where blacklisting was not under a statute, are not applicable to the facts of case since in the instant case the writ petition was granted every opportunity to present its case before the order-in-original was passed. The law laid down in the judgment in Southern Painters (supra) is not applicable where the appellant was not notified of the reason for the deletion of its name from the list of qualified contractors. The law laid down in Canara Bank (supra), in Ruia Cotex (supra), Mohinder Singh Gill (supra), Management of M/s. Nally Bharat Engineering Co. Ltd (supra), U.P.Awas Evam Vikas Parishad (supra) are not applicable as in the instant case suspension was carried out for violation of fiscal law. In the absence of challenge to the provisions of the Act and in view of the stand taken by the learned Attorney General as evident from Paragraph 7 of the judgment in C.B. G ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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