Jurisdictional nexus is essential for CHA licence suspension; misconduct under a separate licence cannot justify action against another licence.

A CHA licence may be suspended only by the authority competent for that licence and within the jurisdiction where it is authorised to operate. Where a Coimbatore licence had no operative force in Mumbai because no Form-C intimation was given, alleged misconduct connected only with the separate Mumbai licence could not justify suspension of the Coimbatore licence. The absence of the required jurisdictional nexus meant the suspension power under the relevant regulation could not be invoked against the Coimbatore licence on facts arising entirely under another licence.

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Issues: Whether the Commissioner of Customs, Coimbatore could suspend the CHA licence issued by him on the basis of misconduct relating to the separate Mumbai licence, in the absence of Form-C intimation enabling the Coimbatore licence to operate within Mumbai jurisdiction.

Analysis: The licence issued by the Coimbatore Commissioner and the licence issued by the Mumbai Commissioner were treated as operating in mutually exclusive fields unless Form-C intimation was given to the concerned Customs Station. Regulation 20(2) empowered suspension pending or in contemplation of inquiry by the licensing authority, but only in relation to the licence and the jurisdiction in which that licence was operative. Since the Coimbatore licence had no operation within Mumbai jurisdiction without Form-C intimation, misconduct occurring in Mumbai under the Mumbai licence could not furnish a valid basis for suspending the Coimbatore licence.

Conclusion: The Coimbatore Commissioner had no authority to suspend the Coimbatore CHA licence on the ground of alleged misconduct connected with the Mumbai licence; the suspension order was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: A CHA licence can be suspended only by the authority competent for the licence or for the jurisdiction in which that licence is permitted to operate, and misconduct attributable to a separate licence outside that field cannot justify suspension of another licence absent the requisite intimation and operational nexus.

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