Gold dealer licence cancellation requires false application statements or post-licence contravention; prior misconduct alone is insufficient.

A gold dealer's licence under Section 50 of the Gold (Control) Act cannot be cancelled on the basis of misconduct committed before the licence was issued, or in a different capacity, unless the licence application contained a false or incorrect statement or there was a post-licence contravention. The department relied only on an earlier breach committed by the licence-holder as a partner in 1979, but no contravention after the 1984 individual licence, and no false statement in the application, was shown. The cancellation was therefore unsustainable and was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the gold dealers' licence issued to the appellant in his individual capacity could be cancelled under Section 50 of the Gold (Control) Act on the basis of an earlier contravention committed by him as a partner of a firm, when no post-licence contravention or false statement in the application was shown.

Analysis: Section 50 permits cancellation only where the licence-holder has made a false or incorrect statement in the application or has contravened the Act, rules, orders, or other relevant law after the licence is issued, renewed, or continued. The record showed that the action relied upon by the department related entirely to the earlier 1979 contravention, which had occurred before the appellant obtained the later licence in his own name. There was no allegation or proof that after issuance of the 1984 licence the appellant committed any contravention warranting cancellation. The earlier penalty related to his capacity as a partner and could not, by itself, justify cancellation of the separate individual licence.

Conclusion: The cancellation order was not sustainable and was set aside in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A licence under Section 50 of the Gold (Control) Act cannot be cancelled on the basis of pre-licence misconduct of the holder in a different capacity unless the statutory grounds of false statement in the application or post-licence contravention are established.

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