Export obligation under an advance licence requires prescribed proof; pre-licence exports and missing documents do not satisfy compliance.

Where a foreign trade scheme requires Bank Certificates of Export and Realisation and a Customs-endorsed DEEC book to prove discharge of export obligation, non-production of those prescribed documents meant the obligation was not established. Exports made before issuance of the advance licence could not be treated as compliance with an obligation arising under that licence. The court also noted that, absent any challenge to the governing procedure, judicial review could not be used to override the scheme or reappreciate concurrent factual findings of the authorities. The penalty and consequential orders were therefore sustained.

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Issues: Whether exports made before the date of the advance licence and unsupported by the documents prescribed under the scheme could be treated as fulfilment of the export obligation, and whether the penalty and allied orders suffered from any infirmity warranting interference in judicial review.

Analysis: The prescribed procedure under the foreign trade scheme required the licence holder to furnish the Bank Certificates of Export and Realisation and the DEEC book duly endorsed by Customs as proof of fulfilment of export obligation. The petitioner admittedly did not furnish the documents in the manner required by the scheme, and the authorities recorded concurrent findings that the export obligation had not been proved. The Court held that, in the absence of a challenge to the governing procedure, judicial review under Article 226 could not be used to grant relief contrary to the scheme or to reappreciate the factual conclusions of the statutory authorities. It further held that exports effected prior to the issue of the advance licence could not count towards discharge of an obligation that arose under that licence, and the cases relied upon by the petitioner were distinguishable on their facts.

Conclusion: The export obligation was not shown to have been fulfilled, the penalty and consequential orders were sustained, and the challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the foreign trade scheme prescribes specific documents as proof of fulfilment of export obligation, courts will not in judicial review ignore that requirement or treat pre-licence exports as compliance with an advance licence obligation.

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