Customs broker inquiry timelines are directory, but unexplained delay can still invalidate revocation and penalty orders.

The Customs Broker Licensing Regulations, 2018 inquiry timeline was treated as directory rather than an absolute bar because it functioned as procedural discipline and no automatic invalidation consequence was prescribed. However, non-compliance still required recorded justification. Here, the inquiry report was submitted beyond the prescribed period, with no finding that the customs broker caused the delay and no specific explanation for the lateness after hearing concluded. The unexplained delay therefore vitiated the revocation and penalty order, which was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the time limit prescribed for completion of inquiry under the Customs Broker Licensing Regulations, 2018 was mandatory or directory, and whether the delay in completing the inquiry vitiated the revocation and penalty order.

Analysis: The inquiry report was furnished well beyond the prescribed period, and the impugned order did not record any finding that the delay was attributable to the customs broker. The delay was sought to be justified on administrative grounds, but no specific explanation showed why the inquiry could not have been concluded within the stipulated period after the hearing had ended. In determining whether a statutory time frame is mandatory or directory, the controlling consideration is the object of the regulation, the consequences of strict invalidation for minor delay, and the need to balance discipline in customs administration with fairness to the licence holder. Applying that test, the prescribed timeline was held to operate as a procedural discipline rather than an absolute bar, but non-compliance had to be justified by recorded reasons. Since no such justification existed, the belated inquiry could not sustain the adverse order.

Conclusion: The time limit was held to be directory in principle, but the unexplained delay in the present case was fatal to the proceedings, and the revocation and penalty order was set aside in favour of the appellant.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory inquiry timeline is intended to regulate administrative discipline and no consequence of automatic invalidation is prescribed, the provision is directory; however, an unexplained and unjustified delay in completing the inquiry can still vitiate the resulting adverse order.

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