Clarificatory power cannot amend import procedure; a circular cannot retrospectively change transferability rules without public notice.

The Director General of Foreign Trade's clarificatory power under the Export and Import Policy could not be used to substantively amend paragraph 127(v) of the Handbook of Procedure by circular. A change substituting "date of transfer" with "date of endorsement of transferability" was treated as an amendment, not a mere clarification, and the policy required such change to be made only by public notice. Because the later public notice post-dated the import in question, the circular could not retrospectively govern that transaction or invalidate it on the basis of the amended wording.

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Issues: Whether the Director General of Foreign Trade could, by a circular issued without a public notice, alter the meaning of clause (v) of paragraph 127 of the Handbook of Procedure 1992-97 by substituting the expression "date of transfer" with "date of endorsement of transferability", and whether such circular could govern an import made before the later amendment by public notice.

Analysis: Paragraph 16 of the Export and Import Policy authorised the Director General of Foreign Trade to specify and amend procedure, but only by means of a public notice. Paragraph 20 conferred a power of clarification on questions of interpretation, but that power could not be used to amend the policy or the procedure itself. The circular dated 19.4.94 was not issued by public notice and therefore could not lawfully change the operative language of paragraph 127(v). The substitution of "date of endorsement" for "date of transfer" was substantive and not merely clarificatory. The later public notice dated 28.7.94 showed that the change was in the nature of an amendment, and the import in question had taken place before that amendment.

Conclusion: The circular could not override or amend the existing procedure, and the respondent's import could not be treated as invalid on the basis of the circular.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed, and the writ petition remained effective on the basis that the impugned circular could not retrospectively alter the applicable import procedure.

Ratio Decidendi: A clarificatory power under an import and export policy cannot be used to effect a substantive amendment to the policy or procedure, which can be done only in the prescribed manner by public notice.

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