Fresh examination requirement under new licensing rules bars regularisation based on prior qualification.

A prior qualification under the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 1984 did not entitle the petitioner to conversion of a temporary licence into a regular licence under the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004. The later regulations replaced the earlier conversion mechanism and made passing the examination prescribed under Regulation 8 a condition precedent to grant of a licence under Regulation 9. Because the examinations under the two regimes were not identical and the 2004 framework introduced additional subjects and a different structure, compliance with the old examination requirement could not substitute for the new one. The request for conversion was therefore rightly rejected.

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Issues: Whether passing the examination under the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 1984 entitled the petitioner to conversion of a temporary licence into a regular licence under the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004, and whether such conversion could be directed despite the absence of a fresh examination under the new regulations.

Analysis: The old regulations contemplated a temporary licence followed by a regular licence after qualifying the prescribed examination. The new regulations altered the scheme: they did not provide for grant or conversion of a temporary licence into a regular licence, and they required an applicant to qualify the examination prescribed under Regulation 8 before a licence could be granted under Regulation 9. The Court also noted that the examinations under the two sets of regulations were not identical, as the later regulations introduced additional subjects and a different regulatory framework. In that setting, prior qualification under the old regulations could not be treated as a substitute for compliance with the examination requirement under the new regulations.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to conversion of the temporary licence into a regular licence without passing the examination required under the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004, and the rejection of the request was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a later licensing regulation makes fresh examination eligibility a condition precedent and does not preserve the earlier temporary-to-regular conversion mechanism, prior qualification under the repealed regime does not confer a right to regularisation under the new regime.

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