Marine fuel end-use restrictions upheld: imported distillate oil could not be diverted to industrial use beyond marine purposes.

Marine fuel imported under a specific marine-use regulatory standard was held to remain confined to ship and related marine applications. The Court rejected an attempt to treat the distillate marine oil as available for unrelated industrial use, reading the specification in its proper context and not as an expansion of end-use. It further held that the prescribed end-use declaration required by the maritime authority formed part of the release framework for the seized consignment, and the conditions could not be rewritten absent illegality or patent arbitrariness. The petition therefore failed, and release was made conditional on execution of the stipulated marine-only end-use declaration.

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Issues: Whether the imported distillate marine oil could be treated as usable for industrial purposes beyond marine use, and whether the petitioner could avoid the stipulated end-use declaration requiring marine-only use for provisional release of the seized consignment.

Analysis: The Court read the relevant marine fuel specification as a regime framed for fuels intended for use on ships and related marine applications. It held that the recital in the standard permitting application to stationary diesel engines of the same or similar type had to be understood in context, and could not be used to enlarge the permitted end-use to industrial consumption unrelated to marine purposes. The Court also considered the end-use declaration prescribed by the maritime authority and the Merchant Shipping Notice governing bunker/product suppliers, and held that it formed part of the regulatory framework for release of such goods. It further held that it could not rewrite the conditions of the end-use declaration in the absence of illegality or patent arbitrariness.

Conclusion: The petitioner was required to comply with the prescribed end-use declaration confined to marine use, and the challenge to the seizure and release conditions failed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was dismissed, with the authorities directed to release the consignment upon execution of the stipulated end-use declaration.

Ratio Decidendi: Where import of marine fuel is governed by a specific marine-use regulatory standard and an end-use declaration prescribed by the competent maritime authority, the Court will not extend the permitted use to unrelated industrial purposes or modify the declaration conditions absent illegality.

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