1992 (2) TMI 225

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....tive of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The prayer is not to strike it down, but to project the beneficial element of the Notification to the Petitioner as well. 2. The Petitioner Company had been in the field for quite some time. It was initially having its activities at Nawasari in 1969. It had extension of activities in 1974, in Special alloy steel division. 3. On the basis of representations made before the Government by various authorities including the Petitioner, and the Steel Authority of India, the Government issued a Notification of 15-1-1982. Its duration was for a year, and was to expire on 15-1-1983. Under the Notification, hot rolled stainless steel coils of a width exceeding 500 mm. when imported into India for col....

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....e notification, as going beyond the permissible areas of Governmental functioning. Such a contention would not promote the interest of the petitioner. It may, at the most, enable the Government to take some more money from the Salem Steel Plant, which will not in any way swell the pocket of the Petitioner. The Petitioner, therefore, bargained for an expansion of the beneficiary grant of exemption to all persons importing the steel coils irrespective of its width. The question is, whether functioning as a constitutional Court, this Court could grant such a prayer to the Petitioner. 7. Learned Counsel relied on the decision of the Supreme Court contained in Ayurveda Pharmacy and Anr. v. State of Tamil Nadu, (1989) 2 Supreme Court Cases, 285 ....

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....iminatory. The notification was general in its character. All those who satisfied the conditions contained therein could derive the benefit of exemption. In that situation, we do not find any discrimination in the notification. The presumption of constitutionality available for a legislative provision or an exercise of such a delegated power could certainly be drawn by the Union in that situation. Notwithstanding the default on the part of respondents, particularly respondents 1 to 3 and its law officers to place relevant materials through a proper affidavit and this attempt to justify the validity of the notification, we uphold the validity of the notification in the light of our above discussion. 9. The general principles which have been....