Licence suspension during pending adjudication was held inappropriate, with the Collector to decide continuation after due hearing.

Where adjudication proceedings were already pending before the Collector, continuation of a gold dealer's licence suspension by a subordinate authority was treated as inappropriate, especially when the show cause notice was issued after the suspension order. The analysis noted that no final view was expressed on the Assistant Collector's abstract competence under Section 50(1) of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968, but any cancellation action under Section 50(1A) would require a fresh notice and opportunity of hearing. The adjudicating authority was therefore the proper forum to decide whether suspension should continue, and the impugned order was set aside, leaving the Collector to examine the matter according to law.

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Issues: Whether the impugned order continuing the suspension of the gold dealer's licence should be sustained when adjudication proceedings were already pending before the Collector and the show cause notice had been issued after the suspension order.

Analysis: The order of suspension was passed before the show cause notice, while the Collector had already become seisin of the adjudication. In these circumstances, the continuation of suspension by a subordinate authority was treated as inappropriate, though no final opinion was expressed on the Assistant Collector's abstract competence under Section 50(1) of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968. The decision also noted that any cancellation action under Section 50(1A) would require a fresh notice and opportunity of hearing, and therefore the adjudicating authority was considered the proper forum to examine whether suspension should continue.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside, leaving it open to the Collector, as adjudicating authority, to consider suspension of the licence according to law.

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