TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2016 (8) TMI 971
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....for imposition of penalty under section 11(2) of the said Act. 2. In the context of such background, the petitioners have also challenged the constitutional validity of subsections (2) and (3) of section 11 of the said Act. Prime contention of the petitioners is that the said provisions vest unlimited discretion in the competent authority to impose punishment without providing any guidelines for governing such discretion. In other words, according to the petitioners the discretion is unbrideled, uncanalised and therefore arbitrary Such provisions would therefore be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. 3. Learned counsel for the petitioners while elaborating this ground, submitted that the statutory provisions in question provide for a range of penalty which would be not less than Rs. 10,000/but could be as much as five times the value of the goods or the services or technology, in respect of which, contravention is made or attempted to be made. He submitted that there are no guidelines in the statute as to how such discretion should be exercised. Such discretionary powers, without any statutory guidelines, would be abdicating essential legislative function by....
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....y carries out the legislative object prescribed in S. 3 because the fixation of maximum prices would make stocks of iron & steel available for equitable distribution at fair prices. It is not difficult to appreciate how & why the Legislature must have thought that it would be inexpedient either to define or describe in detail all the relevant factors which have to be considered in fixing the fair price of an essential commodity from time to time. In prescribing a schedule of maximum prices the Controller has to take into account the position in respect of production of the commodities in question, the availability of the said commodities from foreign sources and the anticipated increase or decrease in the said supply or demand. Foreign prices for the said commodities may also be not irrelevant. Having regard to the fact that the decision about the maximum prices in respect of iron and steel would depend on a rational evaluation from time to time of all these varied factors the Legislature may well have thought that this problem should be left to be tackled by the delegate with enough freedom, the policy of the Legislature having been clearly indicated by S. 3 in that behalf. The ob....
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....provisions of the Constitution. In this context, it is well settled that there is a strong presumption of constitutionality of a legislation and the duty lies on the one who contend that a certain law is ultravires being discriminatory to produce necessary material in this respect. In case of The State of Jammu & Kashmir v. Triloki Nath Khosa and others reported in AIR 1974 (SC) 1, the Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had observed as under: "24. This submission is erroneous in its formulation of a legal proposition governing onus of proof and it is unjustified in the charge that the record discloses no evidence to show the necessity of the new, rule. There is always a presumption in favour of the constitutionality of an enactment and the burden is upon him who attacks it to show that there has been a clear transgression of the constitutional principles.(1) A rule cannot be struck down as discriminatory on any a priori reasoning. "That where a party seeks to impeach the validity of a rule made by a competent authority on the ground that the rules offend Art. 14 the burden is on him to plead and prove the infirmity is too well established to need elaboration."1 The ....
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....e. Section 11 pertains to contravention of provisions of the Act, Rules, Orders and foreign trade policy. Relevant portion thereof reads as under: 11. Contravention of provisions of this Act, rules orders and foreign trade policy (1) No export or import shall be made by any person except in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the rules and orders made thereunder and the foreign trade policy for the time being in force. (2) Where any person makes or abets or attempts to make any export or import in contravention of any provision of this Act or any rules or orders made thereunder or the foreign trade policy, he shall be liable to a penalty of not less than ten thousand rupees or five times the value of the goods or services or technology in respect of which any contravention is made or attempted to be made, whichever is more. (3) Where any person signs or uses, or causes to be made, signed or used, any declaration, statement or document submitted to the DirectorGeneral or any officer authorised by him under this Act, knowing or having reason to believe that such declaration, statement or document is forged or tampered with or false in any m....