Continuous five-year service with one licensed dealer required for gold dealer licence eligibility under the control rules

Proviso (f) to Rule 2(f) of the Gold Control (Licensing of Dealers) Rules, 1969 was construed as requiring continuous employment for not less than five years in the shop of a single licensed dealer, followed by an application within sixty days of leaving that employment. The five-year condition was held to be tied to one establishment and could not be satisfied by aggregating service under different dealers or by counting periods broken by service changes. On that construction, the applicant's employment history did not meet the statutory requirement, and the licence claim failed.

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Issues: Whether the respondent was entitled to the benefit of proviso (f) to Rule 2(f) of the Gold Control (Licensing of Dealers) Rules, 1969 so as to obtain a gold dealer licence.

Analysis: Proviso (f) was construed as applying only where the applicant had been employed continuously for not less than five years in the shop of a single licensed dealer and then applied within sixty days of leaving that employment. The scheme of Rule 2(b), the proviso itself, and the related proviso (e) indicated that the five-year requirement was intended to be continuous and attached to one establishment, not to be accumulated across different dealers with breaks in service. On that construction, the respondent's service under more than one dealer did not satisfy the statutory condition.

Conclusion: The respondent was not entitled to the benefit of proviso (f) to Rule 2(f) and was not entitled to the licence on that basis.

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