Adani Enterprise gets relief from HC in FERA case

The court set aside order of Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange endorsing order ED imposing fine on AEL for alleged violation of FERA

Billionaire Gautam Adani promoted Adani Group on Wednesday got relief from the Gujarat High Court in a case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleging violation of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA), 1973 by the group's flagship company Adani Enterprise Ltd (AEL).

A division bench of Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and J B Pardiwala today set aside an order of the Appellate Tribunal for Foreign Exchange (ATFE) endorsing order of the ED imposing fine on AEL for alleged violation of FERA, which is now known as Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) after amendment in 1993.

According to case details, an adjudicating officer of ED in May 2002 had come to the conclusion that there was alleged violation of FERA and issued notice to AEL. He further imposed a fine for the violation. AEL on its part appealed against order of ED in the ATFE.

After hearing both the parties ATFE on February 25, 2008, upheld the order of ED imposing fine on AEL. Aggrieved by this the AEL approached the Gujarat High Court which today set aside the order of ATFE.