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SENTHILKUMAR RAMAMOORTHY J., The Appellant had filed an appeal under Section 6 F of the Explosives Act, 1884 (the Explosives Act) read with Rule 121 of the Explosives Rules, 2008 (the Explosives Rules) against the order bearing No.P-5(AN) Ports/2014 (A1743) dated 19.08.2015 of the Chief Controller of Explosives, Nagpur, refusing to grant a P5 licence to the Appellant.

2. The said appeal was rejected by the appellate authority by order dated 02.11.2018, and the said order was challenged in W.P. No.11869 of 2019 wherein the Appellant had prayed for a Writ of Certiorarified http://www.judis.nic.in 2 of 25 Mandamus to quash the order dated 02.11.2018 and, consequently, direct the second Respondent to issue a P5 licence to the Appellant. The said writ petition was dismissed by order dated 12.11.2019, which is challenged in this intra-court appeal.

3. The present writ appeal arises under the following facts and circumstances. The Appellant applied for and was granted a P3 licence by the Chief Controller of Explosives/the second Respondent herein on 03.12.2014 for the storage and sale of ammonium nitrate. Thereafter, the Appellant filed an application dated 05.08.2015 for the grant of a P5 licence. The P5 licence is required to import ammonium nitrate. The application for the P5 licence was rejected by the Chief Controller of Explosives by order dated 19.08.2015 on the ground that the Appellant is a trader and, therefore, it is not in the interest of national security to grant the licence.

4. After the rejection of the application for the P5 licence, the Appellant imported 740 MT of ammonium nitrate under Bill of Entry No.2704255 dated 24.09.2015 from Korea. The said consignment was http://www.judis.nic.in 3 of 25 detained by the Customs Authorities at the Chennai Sea Port. By letter dated 11.02.2016, the Chief Controller of Explosives informed the Principal Commissioner of Customs that the consignment of ammonium nitrate was imported by the Appellant without obtaining an import licence. Accordingly, the Principal Commissioner of Customs was advised to auction the consignment in accordance with the Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012 (the Ammonium Nitrate Rules).

After careful perusal of records and considering the facts of the case, the provisions of the Explosives Act. 1984 and Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012, the appeal is dismissed and the order dated 19th August, 2015 of Chief Controller of Explosives is upheld."

22. Keeping in mind the Ammonium Nitrate Rules, the facts of this case and the documents on record, we find that the rejection of the http://www.judis.nic.in 22 of 25 Appellant's appeal is in order. We also find that the learned single Judge duly considered the provisions of the Explosives Act, the Ammonium Nitrate Rules, the communication dated 16.09.2016 of the Chief Controller of Explosives and the order impugned in the writ petition while rejecting the writ petition. Considering all of the above, we find that the said order does not warrant interference and there is no merit in the appeal. Therefore, the appeal is dismissed. No costs. Consequently, connected miscellaneous petitions are closed.