Right of F-card holders to represent before any Customs jurisdiction affirmed; territorial restriction set aside, compliance requirements remain.

F-card holders possess the entitlement to represent before any Customs jurisdiction; a communication imposing a territorial restriction on practice was issued without legal authority and is set aside. The licence application still contains identified deficiencies which the applicant has undertaken to remedy; those compliance requirements remain operative. The writ petition challenging the restriction is disposed, while ancillary petitions are closed, leaving the regulatory framework for licensing and corrective compliance intact.

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Issues: Whether paragraph No.6 of the impugned communication restricting an F-card holder to the issuing customs division and preventing him from representing the applicant for a customs broker licence in another customs jurisdiction is legally valid.

Analysis: Regulation 4(2) of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018 prescribes that an application for a licence shall be made to the authority having jurisdiction over the area where the applicant intends to carry on business. The challenge concerns a restriction placed on an F-card holder's ability to represent a company outside the division where the F-card was issued. The respondents did not dispute that an F-card holder may represent interests across jurisdictions subject to CBLR, 2018, while requiring compliance with other identified deficiencies. The impugned paragraph imposes a categorical restriction confining practice to the issuing division which is not supported by the statutory framework and is therefore beyond the authority conferred by the Regulations.

Conclusion: Paragraph No.6 of the impugned communication is set aside as being without authority under law; the remaining deficiencies identified in the communication continue to apply and the petitioner has undertaken to comply with them.

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