Completed export sales fall outside FERA notice jurisdiction, and alternate remedy does not bar writ relief for jurisdictional defects.

Section 12(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 applied to consignment-type transactions and not to sales already completed before export. On that footing, show cause notices and the resulting adjudication based on the inapplicable provision were without jurisdiction and liable to be quashed. The alternative statutory appeal did not bar writ relief because a jurisdictional defect can be corrected under Article 226. The later amendment in Section 18(2) of the 1973 Act was noted only to show that the earlier text was narrower in scope.

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Issues: Whether Section 12(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 applied to exports where the sale had already been completed, and whether the High Court should decline relief under Article 226 of the Constitution of India on the ground of an alternate statutory appeal.

Analysis: Section 12(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947, as it then stood, was directed at a person entitled to sell or procure the sale of goods and was held to apply to consignment-type transactions, not to sales already completed before export. The amended provision in Section 18(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 was noticed only to show that the later law extended the position beyond the earlier text. As the petitioners had already completed the sale, the impugned show cause notices and the consequent decision to commence adjudication proceeded on a provision inapplicable to the case and were therefore without jurisdiction. The objection based on alternate remedy also failed because a writ court may intervene where the impugned action is without jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The impugned notices and adjudication order were invalid and liable to be quashed, and the objection based on the appellate remedy was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: A notice or adjudication founded on a statutory provision that does not cover completed export sales is without jurisdiction, and the existence of an appellate remedy does not bar writ relief against a jurisdictional defect.

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