TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (2) TMI 577
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....racts for specified quantities to the office of the Narcotics Commissioner, Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior, who in turn would register the contract, pursuant to which the imports were permitted. However, it is said that the said officer, purportedly acting in terms of a judgment of the High Court of Allahabad, dated 29.11.2013 had unilaterally changed the existing procedure for import of poppy seeds from "free import" to import on "first come first served basis". This according to the petitioner was on a misinterpretation of the said judgment. It is stated that the Commissioner of Narcotics, the fourth respondent herein, had called for registration of sale contracts for import of poppy seeds from Turkey for the financial year 2015-16 on 10.8.2015 on the website of the said office, after office hours. It was therefore inexplicable that applications are shown to have been received, by courier and post within 18 hours thereof, from such far flung places as Pune, Delhi, Shahajahanpur, Kanpur and Mumbai. Leading to a presumption that the said applicants obviously had prior information of the notice and the details required to be furnished. It is stated that earlier, the High....
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....ll 31.5.2015 to 30.6.2015. It is stated that on 8.7.2014, respondent no.1 is again said to have issued detailed guidelines addressed to respondent no.4 with regard to registration of import contracts for import of poppy seeds. In terms of the said communication, the provisional country caps were said to have been fixed in respect of import of poppy seeds from Turkey, China and the Czech Republic. It was also said to have been indicated that it would be on a first come - first served basis, till the quantity of the country cap is reached, provided that the maximum quantity to be registered in respect of any particular applicant in the first instance would be 180 metric tonnes or 10 container loads. However, the said restriction of quantity for import contract was not made applicable in respect of imports from China and the Czech Republic. It is stated that by a public notice dated 17.11.2014, details of white poppy seeds available in Turkey for export to India as on 30.9.2014 was indicated, while also stating that the country cap would be determined in due course. And vide communication dated 26.12.2014, respondent no.1 had informed respondent no.4 of the country caps for impo....
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.... court, by its order dated 27.8.2015, had directed the very respondents not to process the applications which had been received in response to the public notice dated 18.8.2015. Further, yet another importer had also questioned the very notifications before the Madras High Court and a similar restraint order had been passed therein. Pursuant to the above interim orders, respondent no.4 is said to have issued a public notice dated 8.9.2015, to state that no further action would be taken in processing the applications received for registration of sales contracts for import of poppy seeds from Turkey for the year 2015-16. The fourth respondent has now issued yet another public notice dated 14.9.2015 inviting applications for registration of sales contract pertaining to the import of poppy seeds from Turkey for the year 2015-16. This has been said to have been challenged by another importer before the Madras High Court in a writ petition in WP 29806/2015 and the court had granted an interim order restraining further action by the respondents, as per its order dated 22.9.2015. 2. The present petition seeks to challenge the very same notification dated 14.9.2015. It is conten....
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....g for the counsel for respondents no. 1 and 4, would on the other hand, contend that the petitioner had not chosen to participate in the exercise of filing any application to register sale contracts for the import of poppy seeds from Turkey to India for the period 2015-16, but has chosen to file this petition to stall the proceedings in that regard. It is admitted that the earlier public notices calling for registration of contracts for import of poppy seeds, vide notification dated 10.8.2015 and another notification dated 18.8.2015, wherein the respondents had detailed the list of applicants eligible for registration. In view of multiple challenges to the said notifications, the same had been withdrawn. As the Government of India had framed a new policy which provides for selection of applicants on the basis of draw of lots, the presently impugned notification was issued. It is emphasized that the delay in import of poppy seeds would lead to an increase in demand and an increase in the price, thereby affecting the common man. It is pointed out that the several grounds raised with reference to the earlier notifications, which have now been abandoned, are no longer relevant....
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....igher than the demand and hence there was no need to fix any such cap. However, in respect of imports from Turkey, the concept of provisional country cap was adopted in order to ensure imports as per demand. Further, respondent no.4 has furnished factual particulars at the hearing, to demonstrate that there is no unfair treatment by virtue of the policy now adopted. It is said that there were 40 applicants in Category -A, importers who have imported poppy seeds from Turkey in three years out of the last five years. And that there were 183 applicants in Category -B. The category -A applicants had imported a total of 58624 MT of poppy seeds from Turkey for the last five years and the 183 importers in Category - B had imported 8845 MT of poppy seeds in the last five years. On the basis of the above import statistics, the average ratio of Category -A importers is about 86% and the average ratio of Category -B importers is about 14%. That as per the information provided by the Turkish Embassy as to the quantity of white poppy seeds available for export to India, the Government of India has fixed the country cap for importing 23390 MT. According to the average ratio calculated abov....