Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce
& industry, ordered an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation
into the pulses export matter over a week ago.
In a rebuttal issued here today, the
Ministry of Commerce & Industry (Department of Commerce) has stated that
the allegations made at a press conference by a political party this afternoon
are not correct and that the Department of Commerce had already instituted
a CBI inquiry to look into any wrongdoing that might have been committed by
some exporters.
Giving the facts of the case in chronological
order, the Department has stated as below:
In the wake of rising prices of essential
commodities, Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) and Committee of Secretaries
were constantly reviewing the prices and domestic availability of essential
commodities including pulses and were taking various decisions to check the
prices of these commodities.
Pulses being one of the commodities
whose prices were rising and there was an urgent need to take certain decisions
to keep them under check, the following decisions were taken:
i)
Committee
of Secretaries (COS) held on 19th
June 2006 decided that the Department of Commerce will process the proposal
for issuing necessary orders banning the export of pulses for the next six
months.
ii)
In the
meeting of CCP held on 22nd June 2006, it was decided
to ban export of pulses till 31.3.07. The minutes of the decisions of this
CCP, dated 27.6.06, were, received
in the Commerce Department on 28.6.2006.
iii)
In the
meanwhile, another meeting of the COS
was held on 27.6.2006 in which
it was decided that the Department of Commerce will take immediate steps of
notification for banning export of pulses.
iv)
The Directorate
General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued notification on 27th June 2006 itself, banning
export of pulses for 6 months w.e.f. 22nd June 2006 (the date of
CCP meeting).
v)
This ban
was later extended till 31.3.2007 (on receipt of the CCP minutes) by another
notification issued on 3rd
July 2006.
vi)
In another
meeting of the COS held on 4th
July 2006, it was decided that export of pulses, contracted/LC opened
between 22 and 27 June 2006, will not be permitted by DGFT in view of the
CCP decision on 22.6.2006 to ban exports of pulses and an order to this effect
will be issued. Consequently, DGFT
Notification dated 4th July 2006 was issued.
vii)
On 24.2.2007,
Association of Pulses Manufacturers-Exporters of India, Indore represented
before the Commerce and Industry Minister that some exporters have been exporting
pulses even after the ban and only the small exporters have suffered from
this ban.
viii)
Commerce
& Industry Minister ordered immediate inquiry and report. The complaints
were sent to the DGFT and Member (Customs) for the inquiry.
ix)
The DGFT
gave his detailed report on 12.3.2007 including finding of a preliminary investigation
by the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). The DRI has suspected foul
play by three exporters, namely, M/s Jetking International, M/s Kohinoor Foods
and M/s KRBL Ltd, who are three main exporters to export after the ban. The
DRI found two “abnormalities” in the documents (a prima-facie manipulation
of the expiry date and the abnormally similar price ($ 600 per ton) shown
for different kind of pulses). They are conducting a detailed scrutiny of
the documents of other exporters. The DGFT suggested a detailed investigation/probe by CBI.
Consequent to the report of DGFT along with the DRI preliminary inquiry report,
Commerce & Industry Minister ordered CBI investigation. The CBI has been
informed vide communication dated 15th March 2007.
The Foreign Trade Policy provides for
transitional arrangements as per para 1.5 of the Foreign Trade Policy (2004-09)
which reads as “In case an export or import that is permitted freely under
this Policy is subsequently subjected to any restriction or regulation, such
export or import will ordinarily be permitted notwithstanding such restriction
or regulation, unless otherwise stipulated, provided that the shipment of
the export or import is made within the original validity of an irrevocable
letter of credit established before the date of imposition of such restriction”.
Thus the transitional arrangements flow from the Foreign Trade Policy, and
apply to all changes, unless specifically excluded. In the later orders of
the DGFT, this arrangement has been specifically excluded in order to achieve
tighter control on domestic supplies. It can thus be seen from the above that
the allegations made are not correct.
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SB/NR/MRS
(Release ID :26346)