Administrative refusal to renew a Customs House Agent licence is not an appealable adjudicatory order without statutory hearing requirements.

An order withholding renewal of a Customs House Agent licence under the Customs House Licensing Regulations, 1984 was treated as administrative rather than adjudicatory because the Regulations did not require notice, hearing, or any quasi-judicial procedure for renewal refusal. The absence of a statutory adjudication framework meant the Commissioner was not acting as an adjudicating authority for the purpose of Section 129A(1)(a) of the Customs Act, 1962. A statement in the order suggesting an appeal to the Tribunal could not create appellate jurisdiction where the statute did not confer it. The Tribunal accordingly had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal.

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Issues: Whether an order withholding renewal of a Customs House Agent licence, passed in the course of an inquiry under the Customs House Licensing Regulations, 1984, is an appealable adjudicatory order under Section 129A(1)(a) of the Customs Act, 1962.

Analysis: Regulation 12 required the Commissioner to consider the prescribed conditions for renewal, but the Regulations did not provide any express procedure treating refusal of renewal as a quasi-judicial adjudication. In the absence of a statutory requirement of notice, hearing, or adjudicatory procedure, the impugned order was held to be administrative in character rather than a decision of an adjudicating authority. The preamble in the Commissioner's order suggesting an appeal could lie to the Tribunal could not confer jurisdiction where none existed under the statute. The order was therefore outside the Tribunal's appellate jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The Tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain the appeal against the order withholding renewal of the CHA licence.

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