AJIT KUMAR SENGUPTA, J. - (1.) THE petitioner carries on business under the name and style of 'Steel and Allied Product Exporters' as sole proprietor thereof. The petitioner also carries on business of import and export of various iron and steel materials under the name and style of Steel and Allied Product Exporters. The petitioner, it is contended, is an actual user of various iron and Steel materials. On 21st November, 1983 the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports issued a Circular letter No. 31/83 dated November 21, 1983 regarding the application for supplementary licences of actual users (Industrial) during 1983 -84 for import, inter alia, of seconds/second grade/defective/cuttings circles of sheets, etc., being entry No. 1 in Appendix 6 of the Import and Export Policy, Volume I of 1983 -84. The said circular is in the following terms: According to Para 36 of the Import and Export Policy (Vol. I) for 1983 -84 actual users (Industrial) can apply for the grant of supplementary licence for tinplate waste/waste and secondary grades of sheet referred to above, with necessary justification for import.
(2.) IT has been provided in Para. 43(4) of the Handbook of Import -Export Procedures 1983 -84 that the sponsoring authority, while recommending applications for supplementary licences, will also indicate in their recommendations, the reasons for which the import of the items recommended by them is essential and the requirements of the actual users concerned cannot be met from automatic licence or indigenous sources or other authorised channels of import. It has been decided that in the case of tinplate waste/waste and secondary grades of sheets, etc., referred to above, while recommending a supplementary import licence, the sponsoring authority should also keep in view the actual consumption in quantity terms, of the item in question (imported material only) by the concerned industrial unit during the previous three years, i.e., 1980 -82 and 1982 -83. In their import recommendation also, the sponsoring authority should mention the actual consumption in the above three years, so that the decision on the import application may be taken keeping the same in view.
(3.) THE licensing authorities, while forwarding the application to Hd. quarters office for consideration of the Supplementary Licensing Committee, should check up that the sponsoring authority has mentioned the consumption figures in the recommendation. 2. In terms of the said circular, the petitioner made an application in the prescribed form A before the Directorate General of Technical Development, Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi (hereinafter referred to as the sponsoring authority) on 9th December, 1983 for supplementary licence for the year 1983 -84 under paragraph 35(1) of the said Import and Export Policy, Volume -I for 1983 -84 read with paragraph 43 of the Hand Book of Import and Export Procedures, 1983 -84 in respect of item No. 1 of Appendix 6 of the said Import and Export Policy, 1983 -84. Appendix 6 of the Import and Export Policy of 1983 -84 contains the List of limited permissible items of raw materials (Iron and steel and ferro alloys). Item -1 of Appendix 6 read as follows: Carbon steel items: 1. All seconds/second grades/defectives/cuttings/circlesof sheets/plates/coils/strips in any shape/section/form not elsewhere stated in coated/plated or uncoated conditionincluding tin/zinc/aluminium/aluminium alloy coated/plated and commodity marketed as tin -free steel in the descriptionsabove stated. 3. The said application was accompanied by a letter dated 9th December, 1988, wherein the petitioner stated that the petitioner did not apply for any automatic licence to the respondent No. 1 on the ground that the items mentioned in Appendix -7 of the said Import Policy were not suitable for the purposes of the petitioner and automatic licence could not be granted for item 1 of Appendix -6. It was further stated that the petitioner did not have any import licence in hand and in the absence of such import licence, the petitioner could not make any firm arrangement for regular availability of raw materials for smooth and uninterrupted running of the said factory. In the said letter the petitioner also stated that the material in question was not available from indigenous sources. The petitioner gave further information and details necessary for issuance of the supplementary licence in accordance with the said circular dated November 21, 1983. 4. The Directorate General of Technical Development, after several correspondence exchanged by and between the petitioner and the said sponsoring authority in this regard, by letter No. YO/5(70)/88/agricultural implements/1561 dated March 19, 1984 recommended the said' application of the petitioner for grant of the import licence for consideration of the Supplementary Licensing Committee of respondent No. 2.;