TMI Blog2003 (2) TMI 546X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... volves disputed questions of fact and therefore, the proper course for the appellants is to seek remedy before competent Civil Court by filing civil suits. Hence, these writ appeals. 2. In the writ appeals, the respondent-Corporation has filed statement of objections in each of these writ appeals. 3. The background facts leading to the filing of the writ petitions be noted briefly as under.- The appellants are the partnership firms engaged in the business of selling gold in the domestic market. The respondent-Corporation is a Government owned company and one of the nominated agencies of the Government of India to deal with bullion. Therefore, the respondent-Company imports gold and silver and sell the same in the domestic market. 4. According to the appellants the respondent-Corporation imported 6,000 TT bars of gold through the consignment method some time in the last week of December 1998. The said consignment of gold was cleared by the customs authorities on payment of customs duty at the rate of ₹ 250 per 10 grams of gold before 1-1-1999 and the petitioners claim that the respondent-Corporation as per its usual practice intimated its customers, including the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tioners have been opposed by the respondent-Corporation by filing the statement of objections. In the statement of objections, a preliminary objection is raised with regard to the maintainability of the writ petitions. It is contended that though the respondent-Corporation is a 'State' within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India, since the dispute brought before the Court does not pertain to any statutory action on the part of the Corporation and no public law element is present, the writ petitions are not maintainable. It is contended that the dispute relates to purely contractual obligations under the agreements executed between the Corporation and the petitioners and therefore, the contractual obligation cannot be enforced under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. As regards the merits of the claim of the petitioners, it is contended by the respondent-Corporation that since the sale price was increased with effect from 5-1-1999 because of the increase in customs duty, the petitioners are liable to pay the increased price of the gold as per the prevalent market rates. It is stated that the sale price of the gold with effect from 5-1-1999 was fixed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ninformed by the above postulates of Article 14 may be questioned as arbitrary in a proceeding under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. Article 14 cannot be construed as a remedy for reviewing of the State actions and call upon the State to account for its actions in its manifold activities by stating reasons for such action. The following observations of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in para 102 in the case of Life Insurance Corporation of India v. Escorts Limited and Ors., 1986(8)ECC189 are quite apposite.- If the action of the State is related to contractual obligation or obligations arising out of the Court, the Court may not ordinarily examine it unless the action has some public law character attached to it. Broadly speaking, the Court will examine actions of State if they pertain to the public law domain and refrain from examining them if they pertain to the private law field. The difficulty will lie in demarcating the frontier between the public law domain and the private law field. It is impossible to draw the line with precision and we do not want to attempt it. The question must be decided in each case with reference to the particular action, th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nterference of a High Court while exercising its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India in cases of non-statutory concluded contracts like the one in hand, we are constrained to hold that the High Court in the present case has gone wrong in its finding that there is arbitrariness and unreasonableness on the part of the appellants herein in increasing the cost of the houses/flats and the rate of monthly instalments and giving directions in the writ petitions as prayed for . 12. Further, the Supreme Court in the case of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Anr. v. Dolly Das, (1999)4SCC450 held as follows.- 7. In the absence of constitutional or statutory rights being involved a writ proceeding would not lie to enforce contractual obligations even if it is sought to be enforced against the State or to avoid contractual liability arising thereto. In the absence of any statutory right Article 226 cannot be availed to claim any money in respect of breach of contract or tort or otherwise. In the present case, the appellants have sought to exercise their powers under Section 7 of the Act and, therefore, though the other consequences may be contractu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n not only the increase of customs duty, but also other consequential increase of sales tax etc. These are the attributes of any business carried on by any trading organisation. As already pointed out supra, when the Corporation established its relationship with the petitioners as supplier of gold, in pursuance of the agreements entered into between the parties, it was acting as a purely trading organisation with the risk of incurring loss or profit in the trade. It is needless to state that there is always such risk involved in every business of purchase and sale and the authorities concerned will be making profit or incurring loss due to several factors such as exchange fluctuations and other pricing methods. In the present case, the petitioners lifted the gold long time after sale price was increased in the market. Suppose, the sale price was reduced on account of decrease in the customs duty or decrease in other duties, the Corporation would not have a right to insist that though the prevalent market value is lesser than the previous rate, the buyers of the gold should pay the price of the gold at the previous higher rate. This example is given by us only to show that incurring ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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