- (1.) The writ petitioners instituted the instant writ petition praying for the following reliefs: a) A writ of or in the nature of Mandamus commanding the respondents and each of them: i) act in accordance with law; ii) to rescind, cancel and/or withdraw the letters dated 12th October, 2006, 13th December, 2006 and 9th January, 2007; iii) to rescind, cancel and/or withdraw the new terms and conditions whereby the respondent No. 1 would negotiate the Letter of Credit in respect of an exporter; b) Writ of Mandamus commanding the respondents No. 1 to 3 to ensure securing of maximum possible export price of Friable Chrome Ore by exporting directly to and users thereof and by issuing notice and publicity of the available quantity and to give global publicity of the available quantity through electric media every quarter. c) Writ of Mandamus commanding the respondents No. 1 to 7 to place the rates offered by the end users and also foreign buyers at the meeting of the committee and to fix export price for the concerned quarter on the basis of highest price. d) Order of Injunction restraining the respondents No. 1 to 3 from acting in manner contrary to import and export policy of the Government of India and from refusing to assign L.C. establishing by foreign buyer in favour of the petitioner No. 1 in respect of export of Friable Chrome Ore provided by the petitioner No. 1. e) Order of Injunction restraining the respondents No. 1 to 3 from enhancing service charges over and above 1% and from mentioning in the contract with the petitioner No. 1 in a price different from the price at which Friable Chrome Ore provided by the petitioner No. 1 is being sold by the respondent no. 1 by the foreign buyer. f) Order of Injunction be issued restraining the respondents No. 1 to 3 from giving any effect or further to the letters dated 12.10.2006, 13.12.2006 and 09.01.2007 in any manner whatsoever as against Friable Chrome Ore provided by the petitioner No. 1 for export through the respondent No. 1. g) A writ of or in the nature of Certiorari commanding the respondents and each of them to certify and produce to this Hon'ble Court all papers, documents and records concerning and/or relating to the export of Friable Chrome Ore so that conscionable justice may be administered by quashing such of them as deemed necessary. h) A writ of or in the nature of Prohibition restraining the respondents and each of them to rescind, withdraw, cancel and recall all terms and conditions of contracts which are contrary to and/or inconsistent with the terms of the Export and Import Policy for the year April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2007. i) RULE NISI in terms of prayers above. j) Rule be made absolute if no cause or insufficient cause is shown. k) Mandatory order directing the respondent No. 1 to permit the petitioner No. 1 to export Friable Chrome Ore and concentrate through Letter of Credit which are allowed to be freely negotiated by the petitioner No. 1 for the quarter October, 2006 to December, 2006 and all future quarters. l) An order of injunction restraining the respondents and each of them to rescind, withdraw, cancel and recall all terms and conditions of contracts which are contrary to and/or inconsistent with the terms of the Export and Import Policy for the year April 1, 2002 to March 31, 2007. m) Ad interim orders in terms of prayers above. n) Costs of and incidental to this application be paid by the respondents. o) Such further or other order or orders and/or direction or directions be given as to which this Hon'ble Court may deem fit and proper. At the time of hearing of this writ petition, it was candidly admitted by the petitioners that the exports in respect of the periods, (i.e. October, 2006 to December, 2006 and January, 2007 to March, 2007) for which the instant writ petition was initiated has already been effected. During the pendency of the petition, a supplementary affidavit has been filed on behalf of the petitioners bringing on record the exports effected between April, 2007 to June, 2007 under similar procedure. Such exports are also presently complete. Mr. Basak, learned advocate appearing for the petitioners, however, called upon me to decide as to whether the procedure of export of Friable Chrome Ore as laid down by MMTC Limited, respondent No. 1 herein, as elucidated in paragraph 7 of the supplementary affidavit sworn on behalf of respondent No. 1 on 7th May, 2012 is in terms of Export Import Policy 1992-1997 of the Government of India or not.
(2.) Mr. Basak challenged the said procedure, inter alia, on the ground that the price fixation mechanism in the said procedure was faulty inasmuch as the price fixed was not only arbitrary but also excluded an exporter from obtaining a higher price thereto.
(3.) It was further submitted that MMTC Limited under the EXIM policy was to facilitate export and could not step into the shoes of the exporter himself by effecting export and negotiating Letter of Credit on its own name. The petitioners also challenged the imposition of conversion fee @ 3% by MMTC Ltd. which was submitted to be de hors the EXIM policy.;