Decide on plea to allow cut flowers through Delhi Airport: HC tells authorities
Dec 18, 2020
New Delhi [India], December 18 : The Delhi High Court on Friday asked authorities concerned to treat as a representation a petition filed by a flower trade association seeking directions to allow various types of cut flowers and flower buds through the Delhi Airport.
A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan disposed of the plea with direction to treat the plea as representation and take decision on it within eight weeks.
The Fresh Fruit Flowers and Vegetables Traders Association, through its lawyer Manohar Malik, had filed a plea seeking quashing of a notification of the Directorate General Of Foreign Trade dated July 9, 2020, which allows the import of cut flowers from Chennai airport only.
The petitioner said it filed the plea to safeguard the livelihood and survival of flower traders and avoid further loss being caused due to the issuance of the impugned notification. The plea alleged the notification issued by the respondent is unconstitutional, arbitrary, discriminatory and thus liable to be set aside and quashed.
"The volume and demand for orchid cut flower in Delhi NCR is highest in the country and thus issuance of the impugned notification thereby imposing a complete ban on imports of various types of cut flowers including orchid cut flower import, through all airports of the country other than Chennai, does not have any reasonable justification when there is not much demand in Chennai for such imported cut flowers," the plea said.
It said notification discriminates between flower traders of Delhi NCR with that of Chennai, and puts the flower traders in Chennai in a better position than the flower traders in the of the country. The plea also said the notification infringes upon the constitutional right of flower traders in the national capital region.
"The notification has been passed without considering the fact that cut flowers are perishable items and its freshness only lasts till 24 hours and then rapidly diminishes and therefore the condition of allowing import of cut flowers from Chennai airport only, banning all other airports of the country, is completely discriminatory and illogical since the same will make imports of cut flowers unfeasible because of its perishable nature coupled with doubling of the cost for such imports to be transported to Delhi from Chennai," the plea said.
