Mandatory timelines in customs agent revocation proceedings render delayed inquiry reports fatal to the licence cancellation.

Where the Customs House Agent licensing regulations prescribe mandatory timelines for notice, inquiry and final revocation, non-compliance with those deadlines invalidates the disciplinary action. The inquiry report was submitted more than twenty-two months after the show-cause notice, far beyond the ninety-day period contemplated by Regulation 22. Applying the settled view that breach of the prescribed schedule renders revocation unsustainable, the Tribunal held that the licence revocation could not stand and quashed the order.

---

---

Issues: Whether the revocation of the Customs House Agent licence could be sustained when the inquiry report under the prescribed regulatory timeline was submitted far beyond the period stipulated in Regulation 22 of the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004.

Analysis: Regulation 22 requires the notice to be issued within the prescribed time, the inquiry report to be submitted within ninety days from the notice, and the final order to be passed within the stipulated period thereafter. The inquiry report in this case was submitted more than twenty-two months after the notice. The settled view applied by the Tribunal is that breach of the mandatory time lines governing the disciplinary/revocation process renders the eventual revocation invalid.

Conclusion: The revocation order was unsustainable for violation of the prescribed time limits and was quashed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the impugned revocation of the CHA licence was set aside on the ground of inordinate breach of the regulatory schedule for inquiry and decision.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the regulatory scheme prescribes definite time limits for issuance of notice, completion of inquiry, and passing of the revocation order, non-compliance with those time limits invalidates the revocation action.

---