Licence suspension under customs agent rules fails without prima facie material linking employee to the disputed photocopy.

Suspension of a customs house agent's licence under Regulation 21(2) was held unsustainable where the department relied only on a letter and an assumption that the photocopy had been taken by the agent or its employee. The file did not contain the photocopy, no officer had seen it, and there was no material establishing a prima facie case that the employee had procured or taken it. As the factual precondition for exercising the suspension power was not met, the suspension was not justified and was liable to be set aside.

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Issues: Whether the suspension of the customs house agent's licence under Regulation 21(2) of the Customs House Agent Licensing Regulations, 1984 was sustainable in the absence of material showing that the appellant's employee had taken the photocopy in question.

Analysis: The only basis for action was a letter and the departmental assumption that the photocopy had been taken by the appellant or its employees. The file produced did not contain the photocopy, and no officer had seen it. There was no material establishing a prima facie case that the appellant's employee had procured or taken the photocopy. On that footing, the precondition for invoking the suspension power was not satisfied.

Conclusion: The suspension under Regulation 21(2) was not justified and was liable to be set aside.

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