Madras High Court upholds Baryte export curbs: a policy change applying only to future exports defeats no vested right

The Madras High Court upheld a notification that moved two grades of Baryte — a mineral used mainly in oil and gas drilling — from the "Free" to the "Restricted" export category, rejecting a mineral exporter's challenge that the change was arbitrary and violated Articles 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution. Gimpex Private Limited, which had bought about Rs. 225 crore worth of Baryte through a government e-auction solely for export and had stock stranded at Chennai Port after the notification, argued it had a vested right to export under the policy in force when it bought the stock, and that delegated legislation under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 could not operate retrospectively. The Division Bench, led by the Chief Justice, held that the notification was prospective — it only required a licence for future exports and did not cancel any existing licence or completed transaction — so no vested right was defeated, and neither legitimate expectation nor promissory estoppel could survive a national-security-driven policy change, a reasonable restriction permissible under Article 19(6).

The Court also upheld a Foreign Trade Policy clause giving transitional protection only to exporters holding an Irrevocable Commercial Letter of Credit issued before the change, finding the distinction rational. It nonetheless directed the Directorate General of Foreign Trade to decide, within four weeks and after a personal hearing, the exporter's pending licence application, weighing the stranded stock, the absence of a domestic market for the mineral, and the mounting port charges. As a High Court ruling, this binds only within Tamil Nadu and is not a Supreme Court precedent.