Import licence revalidation was required for short-landed goods; delay, insurance settlement, and banned-list status were irrelevant.

Where imported goods were short-landed before actual import and the governing policy allowed the item against replenishment entitlement, an expired import licence had to be revalidated under paragraph 345(2) of the Handbook of Import and Export Procedure. The refusal to revalidate could not be justified by delay, settlement of the insurance claim, or the item's inclusion in the banned list, because those grounds were extraneous to the policy framework and the factual sequence. Revalidation was therefore legally required for replacement import of the short-landed consignment.

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Issues: Whether the refusal to revalidate the import licence for replacement import of the short-landed consignment was legally sustainable.

Analysis: The licence had originally been validly issued for the relevant import policy period, and the goods could be imported under the policy despite their placement in the banned list, because the policy itself permitted import of such items to the prescribed extent against replenishment entitlement. Paragraph 345(2) of the Handbook of Import and Export Procedure governed cases where goods were short shipped, short-landed, or lost in transit before actual import and provided that, if the original licence had expired, it was to be revalidated to facilitate reimport. The authorities' reliance on delay, the banned-list entry, and settlement of the insurance claim did not accord with the policy framework or the factual sequence.

Conclusion: The refusal to revalidate the licence was illegal and could not be sustained; the petitioners were entitled to revalidation of the licence.

Ratio Decidendi: Where goods are short-landed or lost in transit before import, and the governing import policy permits the item against the relevant replenishment entitlement, the expired original licence must be revalidated under the applicable procedure and cannot be refused on extraneous grounds such as mere delay, insurance settlement, or the item's presence in a banned list.

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