Publication timing for delegated legislation barred applying a new import restriction to consignments already landed in India.

Delegated legislation takes effect from its lawful publication, and where an e-Gazette is used, the exact date and time of publication are material. A subordinate notification cannot operate retrospectively unless the parent statute permits it. Applying that principle, the note states that Notification No. 02/2026-27, which shifted CTH 7113 imports from "Free" to "Restricted," could not be applied to consignments already dispatched and landed in India before digital publication. It further notes that the absence of a separate prayer challenging the notification's validity did not matter, because the issue was non-applicability to the goods in question. The consignments were therefore to be cleared under the pre-existing free import policy.

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Issues: Whether Notification No. 02/2026-27, which changed the import policy for goods under CTH 7113 from "Free" to "Restricted", could be applied to consignments that had already been dispatched and had arrived in India before the notification was published in the e-Official Gazette.

Analysis: The effective date of delegated legislation depends on its publication in the manner prescribed by law, and where publication is through an e-Gazette, the precise date and time of publication are material. A subordinate legislative measure cannot operate retrospectively unless the parent statute authorises such operation. The notification itself stated that the amended policy would come into force with immediate effect, but the goods in question had already been shipped and had reached the Indian ports before the notification was digitally published. The Court accepted the view that the notification could not be applied to consignments that had landed before its publication, and the objection based on absence of a prayer challenging the notification's validity did not survive because the case was decided on non-applicability of the notification to the petitioner's goods.

Conclusion: The notification did not apply to the petitioner's consignments, and the goods were liable to be cleared under the pre-existing free import policy.

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