M.D. Overseas Ltd. v. Union of India
(2017) 355 ELT 185
In the High Court of Delhi
WP(C) 8204-8205/2017
Before Justice S. Muralidhar and Justice Prathiba M. Singh

Relevancy of the Case: Date of applicability of a notification published in the Electronic Gazette

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 8)
• The Customs Act (Section 46(3), 111(d), 112)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The petitioners imported gold coins from Seoul, South Korea by air that dispatched on August 25, 2017. They filed the Bills of Entry on the same date.
• The Central government issued two notifications placing the import of gold coins under the restricted category, but the same was not published in the Official Gazette till August 28, 2017.
• The petitioners presented the bills of entry on August 25, 2017, to the Principal Commissioner of Customs. The officer was also not aware of the notifications.
• The petitioners have filed this petition to clear the import of gold coins without imposing any restrictions.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel argued that the notifications were published three days after their first issue. They should be available on the same date they were issued.

Opinion of the Bench

• The court reviewed the electronic copy of the Gazette and screenshots of the Ministry of Commerce website. It found that the Official Gazette did not publish them on the intended date.
• When an authority does not publish a statutory notification in a manner specified in the law, it is not effective.
• Therefore, the respondents should not proceed further with the show cause notice.

Final Decision

• The court granted interim relief to the petitioners and listed the matter for the next hearing.

Yagyanseni Acharya, an undergraduate student at VIT School of Law, Chennai, prepared this case summary during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2024.