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Union of India & Ors. v. T.R. Mehra Etc. Etc.

Civil Appeal · 2019 INSC 929Decided 21 Aug 2019
Civil Appeal Nos. 2036-2038 of 2011
Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Justice Dinesh Maheshwari

Background

The respondents had faced action from the government based on a 1986 order passed by a Competent Authority under the now-repealed Imports (Control) Order, 1986, concerning the import of certain goods. By the time the relevant import actually took place (in 1997), the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 had come into force and no longer prohibited import of those goods. The High Court quashed the show-cause notice issued against the respondents, and the Union of India appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that once the 1986 Imports (Control) Order and the underlying 1947 Act were repealed and replaced by the 1992 Act (which made import of the goods in question free), the earlier quasi-judicial order could not survive unless a specific savings clause protected it. Examining Section 20 of the 1992 Act, the Court found the government could not show that the 1986 order fell within the savings provisions for pre-existing rights, liabilities or penalties. Continuing to enforce the old prohibition would be repugnant to the legislative intent of opening up the import regime. The Court agreed with the High Court's reasoning and dismissed the Union's appeals.

Lesson Learnt

When a law is repealed and replaced, actions or orders based on the old law survive only if the new law's savings clause specifically protects them: the government cannot enforce an old restriction against a citizen once the governing law has changed to make that activity lawful, unless it can point to such a clause.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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