Actual user status under the Import Policy failed for film distributors and exhibitors lacking a qualifying licensed theatre.

Under the Import Policy, 1978-79, distributors and exhibitors of films were not treated as actual users where the films were imported for business or trade rather than the importer's own use. The special definition for actual user (non-industrial) also required a commercial establishment holding the relevant film-exhibition licence for at least three years at the authorised premises. Because the petitioners did not show ownership or possession of a qualifying licensed theatre, they did not satisfy either definition and were not entitled to compel the canalising agency to import the films for them.

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Issues: Whether the petitioners, being distributors and exhibitors of films, qualified as actual users of films under the Import Policy, 1978-79 and were entitled to compel the canalising agency to import the films for them.

Analysis: The definition of actual user under paragraph 5(1) required the item to be imported for the importer's own use and not for business or trade. The import and exhibition of films formed part of the petitioners' business, and that activity therefore did not satisfy the general definition. The special definition for actual user (non-industrial) in paragraph 5(4)(b) further required a commercial establishment holding a licence for at least three years under the local law relating to exhibition of films at the authorised premises. The petitioners did not satisfy that special requirement, as they did not establish ownership or possession of a qualifying licensed theatre.

Conclusion: The petitioners were not actual users of films within the meaning of the Import Policy and were not entitled to a mandamus directing import of the films for them.

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