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Viraj Impex Pvt. Ltd. v. Union of India & Anr.

Not available · 2026 INSC 80Decided 21 Jan 2026
Not available
Justice Alok Aradhe · Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha

Background

Importers signed steel-import contracts before 5 February 2016. The government uploaded a Minimum Import Price notification to its website that same day, saying it was "to be published in the Official Gazette", but Gazette publication only happened on 11 February 2016. Importers argued their letters of credit, opened before Gazette publication, should be exempt.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held a trade-restricting notification only becomes legally binding once formally published in the Official Gazette, not when merely uploaded online. Since the notification itself admitted it was not yet published on 5 February, the exemption clause's "date of this Notification" had to mean 11 February, so the importers' pre-11 February letters of credit qualified for exemption.

Lesson Learnt

A government rule cannot bind businesses before it is formally published in the manner the law requires; an earlier website upload doesn't count.

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

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