Import policy and public notice made olive oil freely importable, so customs could not refuse clearance on a contrary reading.

Import policy amendments and the contemporaneous public notice made goods freely importable by deleting the relevant OGL appendices and excluding them from the negative list, so customs could not treat olive oil as a restricted consumer good on a contrary reading. The Court held that the customs authorities had to follow the construction adopted by the import and export authorities and that refusal of clearance was unjustified. The alternative remedy objection failed because there was no written appealable order, and the objections based on estoppel and policy were rejected.

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Issues: Whether olive oil imported after the change in the Import and Export Policy could be treated as a restricted consumer good, and whether the customs authorities were justified in refusing clearance on that basis.

Analysis: The operative public notice deleted the relevant appendices and stated that all items not included in the negative list would be freely importable. Olive oil had been specifically included in the earlier OGL list as a crude drug, and the deletion of Appendix 6 meant that items listed there were no longer to be treated as restricted merely because they were formerly importable under OGL. The customs authorities' construction of the order and notice of 29-2-1992 was held to be inconsistent with the language and object of the policy. The Court further held that the customs authorities could not adopt a view contrary to the interpretation taken by the import and export authorities. The plea of alternative remedy failed because there was no written appealable order, and the objections based on estoppel and policy were rejected.

Conclusion: The refusal to clear the olive oil was unjustified, and the goods were held to be freely importable.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the customs authorities were directed to permit clearance of the goods on payment of the duty assessed by them.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the import policy and contemporaneous public notice make goods freely importable by deleting the relevant OGL lists and excluding them from the negative list, customs authorities must apply that construction and cannot treat the same goods as restricted by a contrary reading.

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