Writ challenge to vague FERA show-cause notice rejected; parties must before adjudicating authority unless notice is without jurisdiction.

A writ petition under Article 226 challenging a FERA show-cause notice for alleged vagueness was held not maintainable at the threshold. Although a show-cause notice must contain adequate foundational facts and a vague notice in quasi-judicial penalty proceedings may be vulnerable, the Court applied binding Supreme Court guidance that, in FERA matters, noticees should ordinarily answer before the adjudicating authority and pursue statutory remedies if aggrieved. Interference is warranted only where the notice is wholly without jurisdiction. The challenge to the notice therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India could be entertained to quash a show-cause notice issued under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 on the ground that it was vague and did not sufficiently particularise the directors' role in the alleged contravention.

Analysis: The notice sought to proceed against the petitioners as directors or persons in charge of the company for alleged contraventions under FERA. The challenge was that the notice did not set out specific facts showing how the company's conduct could be attributed to each director, and that a vague notice in quasi-judicial penalty proceedings denies a fair opportunity to answer the allegations. The Court accepted that, in principle, a show-cause notice must disclose adequate foundational facts and that vague or unspecific notice may be vulnerable. However, the Court held that the binding decisions of the Supreme Court had laid down a different approach in FERA matters, namely that persons served with such notices should ordinarily respond before the adjudicating authority and pursue statutory remedies if aggrieved, unless the notice is wholly without jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The writ petition was not maintainable at this stage and the challenge to the show-cause notice failed.

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