Export incentive eligibility for bicycle parts turned on commercial character; later amendment was treated as clarificatory, not new rights.

Bicycle parts exported in bulk were treated as bicycle components and accessories for export incentive purposes because their commercial and functional character, not a narrow spare-parts label, governed eligibility. The later amendment dated 20-6-1983, which expressly added spare parts, was read as clarificatory rather than as creating a wholly new entitlement, so earlier exports also qualified for cash compensatory support. The Article 14 challenge failed on the facts because the petitioner was treated inconsistently with similarly placed pending matters. The orders refusing and recovering the benefit were therefore unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether bicycle parts exported prior to the amendment dated 20-6-1983 were entitled to cash compensatory support as bicycle components and accessories, and whether the amendment was only clarificatory so as to apply to pending and earlier cases.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the meaning of the expression used in the export incentive schedule. The exports consisted of bicycle parts in bulk, intended as original equipment and not as replacement spares. The Court treated the distinction between "spare parts" and "components/accessories" as unreal in the context of export promotion, and held that the goods fell within the eligible category on the basis of their commercial and functional character. The Court also held that the subsequent amendment which expressly added spare parts was not to be read as creating a wholly new entitlement for the first time, since the administrative clarification and prior treatment of similar exports showed that the earlier entry was understood in the broader sense. The challenge based on Article 14 of the Constitution of India did not survive on the facts, because the petitioner's case was treated inconsistently with similarly placed pending matters.

Conclusion: The exports were eligible for cash compensatory support even for the period prior to 20-6-1983, and the impugned orders refusing and recovering the benefit were unsustainable.

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