TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1991 (4) TMI 145
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....5/-respectively. In the meanwhile on 11th August 1990 the petitioner company entered into a contract with a foreign concern for importation of 12,750 Metric tonnes of pig iron. The petitioner opened letters of credit in favour of the foreign seller. The said goods were shipped. The petitioner paid Rs. 143.42 lakhs as part payment for the said goods. The petitioner has since paid the entire value of the said goods. On 8th January 1991, the Bills of Entry submitted to Customs were duly processed, scrutinised and passed, by Customs Authorities and the value and quantity of the imported pig iron has been debited by the Customs Authorities upon the said Licence and the Duty Exemption Entitlement Certificate Book. On 19th February 1991 the Customs Authorities issued an order for release of the said goods. On 22nd February 1991 the petitioner Company's office received a telex message from the Joint Chief Controller of Imports & Exports New Delhi (Office of the Chief Controller of Imports & Exports New Delhi) stating "You are not to operate Advance Licence No. P/W/3259444 dated 9th October 1990 for Rs. 6,00,90,625/- till further advice". On 27th February 1991 the said goods ....
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....licence or allotment of imported goods shall be granted to him and he shall not be permitted to import any goods for a specified period under this Order :- (a) if his application for licence is at any time found to be not in conformity with any provision of this Order; or (b) if such application is found to contain any false, fraudulent or mis-leading statement; or (c) if he is found to have used in support of his application any document which is false or fabricated or which has been tampered with; or (d) if he has, on any occasion, tampered with an import licence or has imported goods without a licence or has been a party to any corrupt or fraudulent practice in his commercial dealing or in obtaining a licence, or is found to have solicited any licence by offering an inducement to the holder of the licence or otherwise; or (e) if his agent or employee has been a party to any corrupt or fraudulent practice in obtaining any licence on his behalf; or (f)  ....
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....cer is satisfied that without ascertaining further details in regard to such allegation, the grant of licence or allotment of imported goods will not be in the public interest, then notwithstanding anything contained in this Order, the Central Government or the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports or an authorised officer may keep in abeyance any application for grant of licence from such person, or direct the State Trading Corporation of India, the Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India, or any other similar agency to keep in abeyance allotment of imported goods to such person, without assigning any reason and without prejudice to any other action that may be taken in this behalf: Provided that the period for which the grant of such licence or allotment is kept in abeyance under this clause shall not ordinarily exceed six months. 9. Cancellation of licences. - (1) The Central Government or the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports or any other officer authorised in this behalf may cancel any licence granted under this Order or otherwise render it ineffective : (a) if the licence has been granted through inadvertence or m....
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.... recovery proceedings pending the Appeal although there was no such power expressly granted by the statute. The Supreme Court held that there was such power. It is to be noted however that the Supreme Court was considering the exercise of power pending an appeal. The court was not called upon to consider whether the appellate authority had the ancillary powers to issue an order for stay even though there was no 'lis' pending before it. 3. The following sentence in the Liberty Oil Mills case has also been relied on by the respondents. "Ordinarily in the absence of anything more, it should not be necessary to give an opportunity to the person concerned before proceeding to take action under Clause 8A or Clause 8B". This sentence has been read out of context. The full passage which has been quoted below would show that the reasoning in Liberty Oil Mills runs counter to the submission of the respondents. 4. In fact in the Liberty Oil Mills case (supra) the Supreme Court has stressed the importance of natural justice and has stated "We do not think that it is permissible to interpret any statutory instrument so as to exclude natural justice unless the language of the inst....
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....t is stated in paragraph 4 of the said affidavit: "If such investigation shows and/or reveals that the writ petitioner has violated the provisions of Imports (Control) Order, 1955 then the said present licence may be liable to cancellation and/or render ineffective or may result in suspending the licence and/or importation of the goods." 7. As far as the first ground is concerned it is not stated that there was any reason to believe that the materials imported duty free were not being utilised for the manufacture of the relevant export product. Merely because licences of high value were granted could not be itself raise any doubt of any illegal activity. 8. The second ground in fact is somewhat contradictory to the first as it is admitted that the export commitments had been fulfilled. Whatever the explanation for the alleged larger scale of rejects is concerned this related to the period 1987-88 and 1989-90, that is much prior to the grant of the Advance licence in this case. 9. The third ground is equally if more tendous. Several questions are left unanswered such as why was a licence granted for Rs. 6 Crores by the respondents themselves for more than the petitioner ....
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....) comes into play. 2. The statute itself provides for a hearing before such an interim order made under either clause is passed. The reason for providing for an opportunity of being heard before an order under 8A is passed has been stated in the Liberty Oil Mills case (supra) : "On the initiation of a proceeding under Clause 8 by the commencement of investigation, the authority has to address itself to the question whether any action of an interim nature to prevent further harm or mischief is warranted pending investigation. Licences may have already been issued and allotment of imported goods may have already been made. The authority may consider it desirable to prevent the person from importing goods pursuant to the licences or to prevent him from obtaining the imported goods allotted to him through the specified agencies. If so, the authority may make an order under Cl. 8-A suspending the importation of goods, the grant of licences or the allotment of imported goods. But Clause 10 provides that no action under Clause 8-A may be taken without giving a reasonable opportunity to the person concerned. It is obviously thought that t....