The Hindu : Kerala News : Ban on palm oil import to stay

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Kerala

Ban on palm oil import to stay

Special Correspondent

Centre’s notifications upheld

Plea for ban at ports outside the State dismissed
Power of DGFT to issue notifications sustained

Kochi: The Kerala High Court, on Friday, upheld Union government notifications banning import of palm oil through ports in the State.

Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan upheld the ban while dismissing a writ petition filed by a Kozhikode-based firm challenging the orders.

The court also dismissed a writ petition seeking a direction to the Union government to ban import of palm oil through Chennai, Mangalore and Tuticorin ports.

The petition challenging the ban contended that the Centre and the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had no power to issue such ban notifications.

The decisions to ban import through the Kochi port initially and extend the restriction to other ports in the State under Sections 3 and 5 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act were irrational and arbitrary.

The petition contended that the ban without a restriction on the import of coconut oil was unreasonable. The decisions violated the fundamental right of the petitioner to carry on business or trade.

Statutory provisions

The court observed that statutory provisions and policy documents provided the legal foundation for issuing the notification.

The statutory provisions specifically had given the Union government and the DGFT the power to amend the policy and to prohibit or restrict or regulate imports.

The power to prohibit imports was expressly stated in Section 3(2) of the Act. Therefore, the court held that the power of the DGFT to issue the notifications was sustained.

The court said the notifications were shown to have been issued after the Chairperson of the Coconut Development Board wrote to the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation about the need for a ban on import of palm oil and after the Chief Minister wrote to the Ministry. So, it could not be said that there was no material at all before taking decisions to impose the ban.

The court said that the argument that the import of coconut oil was not banned despite the recommendations of the Board was not sufficient “to dislodge a policy decision taken in relation to palm oil.”

Policy matter

The court observed that “the cry of the farmers was insufficient” for the judiciary to compel the Centre and the DGFT to accept the recommendation of the Board in toto and impose a ban on import of palm oil through the ports of Chennai, Mangalore and Tuticorin.

That was a policy matter. Drawing up an economic policy might in certain situations decide on various factors, such as political policy, foreign policy and bilateral agreements. It would be beyond the boundary of the judiciary to step in and issue directions, the court added.

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