HC upholds DGFT ban on export of shark fins

The Madras High Court today upheld a central government notification prohibiting export of shark fins.
A division bench, comprising Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice T Mathivanan, upheld the February 6, 2015 notification of the Director General of Foreign Trade, New Delhi, while dismissing a petition by Marine Products Exporters Association challenging it.
"A conflict will arise only when what is prohibited by the Wild Life (Protection) Act is permitted to be exported under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act," the court held.
The Association, represented by its Vice-President S J Ramnathan, had challenged the notification which prohibited export of shark fins of all spices on several grounds.

Among others, it claimed that the ban was in contrary to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, (CITES) where only 18 species out of 480 species of shark are protected.
Even under Schedule I to the Wild Life Protection Act, only six species of shark and three species of ray are prohibited from being hunted and hence the notification issued under the Foreign Trade Policy was contrary to law, the petitioners had contended.

Rejecting the contentions, the bench said even as per the CITES, parties to the convention were given the right to adopt stricter domestic measures.

Also, it is a settled law in this country that an international convention ratified by India is enforceable only to the extent that it is not in conflict with the municipal law of the country.
The bench also held that there was no conflict between the legal framework under the Wild Life (Protection) Act and the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act.
A conflict would arise only in cases where what was prohibited by CITES or by Wild Life (Protection) Act was allowed to be exported by the notification issued under the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, the court said.