Natural justice in customs broker inquiries requires fair notice, cross-examination, and disclosure; revocation based on unfair procedure was set aside.

A customs broker licence revocation was held unsustainable where the inquiry was conducted without proper notice for the examining of the investigating officer, in the noticee's absence, and without furnishing the Presenting Officer's report before finalisation. The adverse findings rested on an untested deposition and a procedurally unfair process, so the inquiry was vitiated by breach of natural justice. The revocation order was set aside and the matter remitted for a fresh inquiry in accordance with law after due consideration of the noticee's response.

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Issues: Whether the revocation of the customs broker licence was vitiated for breach of the principles of natural justice in the inquiry proceedings, and whether the matter required a fresh inquiry.

Analysis: The inquiry was conducted without proper notice for the deposition of the investigating officer and the noticee was not present when that testimony was recorded. The request for cross-examination originated from the noticee, yet the witness was examined in the noticee's absence, and the report of the Presenting Officer was not furnished before the inquiry was finalized. The findings in the inquiry report, and the Commissioner's order based on it, were therefore founded on an untested deposition and a procedurally unfair process. Such defects went to the root of the inquiry and deprived the report of reliability.

Conclusion: The revocation order was set aside and the matter was remitted for a fresh inquiry after due consideration of the noticee's response.

Final Conclusion: The impugned revocation could not be sustained because the inquiry stood vitiated by procedural unfairness, and the licensing authority was directed to conduct a fresh inquiry in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: An adverse administrative inquiry that records crucial evidence in the absence of the noticee and without fair opportunity to contest that evidence is vitiated by breach of natural justice, and any order founded on such inquiry cannot stand.

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