Court sets aside decision on adjusting Raw Pet Coke (RPC) imports, ruling pre-October 2018 imports not counted for Oct-Mar 2019

The Court set aside the decision to adjust Raw Pet Coke (RPC) imported before October 2018 against the allocation for October 2018 to March 2019. It was held that the RPC imported before September 30, 2018, would not be considered against the allocation for the period from October 2018 to March 2019.

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Issues Involved:
1. Impugning the Minutes of the Meeting held on 12.12.2018.
2. Impugning the letter dated 01.02.2019 sent by the DGFT.
3. Allocation and adjustment of Raw Pet Coke (RPC) import quotas.
4. Implementation of Supreme Court's order on RPC import limits.

Issue-wise Detailed Analysis:

1. Impugning the Minutes of the Meeting held on 12.12.2018:
The petitioner challenged the Minutes of the Meeting held on 12.12.2018, which involved officials from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and the Indian Oil Corporation. The meeting decided on the allocation of RPC quotas among manufacturers based on their production capacity, adhering to the Supreme Court's directive that the import of RPC for producing Calcined Pet Coke (CPC) cannot exceed 1.4 Million Metric Tonnes (MT) per annum. The Committee decided to allocate the available quantity (7 Lakh MT) proportionately to the manufacturers’ production capacity for the period between October 2018 and March 2019.

2. Impugning the letter dated 01.02.2019 sent by the DGFT:
The petitioner also contested the letter dated 01.02.2019 from the DGFT, which informed the petitioner that eleven consignments of RPC cleared by customs would be adjusted against the quota allocated for the period between October 2018 and March 2019. The petitioner argued that these consignments were imported and cleared for home consumption before the Supreme Court's directive on 09.10.2018 and should not be adjusted against the latter half of the fiscal year's quota.

3. Allocation and adjustment of Raw Pet Coke (RPC) import quotas:
The petitioner was aggrieved by the decision to restrict the import of RPC to 0.7 Million MT for the period between October 2018 and March 2019 and the adjustment of RPC imported before October 2018 against this allocation. The Supreme Court had clarified that the total import of RPC for producing CPC should not exceed 1.4 Million MT per annum. The DGFT issued a Public Notice on 26.11.2018, implementing this quantitative restriction on a fiscal year basis, limiting the import to 0.7 Million MT for the remaining half of the fiscal year 2018-19.

4. Implementation of Supreme Court's order on RPC import limits:
The respondents implemented the Supreme Court's directive by capping the RPC import at 0.7 Million MT for October 2018 to March 2019. The petitioner contended that the imports made before October 2018 should not be adjusted against this cap. The Court found merit in the petitioner’s argument, noting that there was no rationale for adjusting the RPC imported before October 2018 against the latter half's allocation. The Court emphasized that the total RPC imported during the fiscal year 2018-19 would remain within the overall annual cap of 1.4 Million MT set by the Supreme Court.

Conclusion:
The Court concluded that the decision to adjust the RPC imported before October 2018 against the allocation for October 2018 to March 2019 was unsustainable and set it aside. The petition was allowed to the extent that the RPC imported before 30.09.2018 would not be considered against the allocation for the period from October 2018 to 31.03.2019.

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