Statutory time limit for licence revocation: failure to decide within 90 days results in revocation being set aside.

The note addresses enforcement of the ninety-day decisional deadline in Regulation 17(7) of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018 and its operative effect: a revocation or restoration order must be passed within 90 days of the inquiry report. Failure to meet this statutory time-limit, in the absence of any saving or extension provision, renders the impugned revocation non-compliant and void. Although procedural fairness was observed, the regulatory time-bar was dispositive and the revocation order was set aside as invalid for breach of the prescribed period.

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Issues: Whether the revocation of the customs broker's licence by the Principal Commissioner under the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018 was vitiated by failure to pass the order within the 90-day period prescribed by Regulation 17(7), and whether the impugned revocation order must be set aside.

Analysis: Regulation 17(7) of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018 requires the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs to pass an order revoking or restoring a licence within ninety days from the date of submission of the inquiry report by the Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner. The inquiry report in this case was submitted on 28-03-2022, but the Order-in-Original was passed on 16-08-2022, which is more than 130 days after submission of the inquiry report. The Tribunal found no saving provision in CBLR 2018 permitting extension of the 90-day limit and noted that the impugned order does not comply with the statutory time-limit mandated by Regulation 17(7). The adjudicating authority had otherwise followed principles of natural justice, but the statutory time violation was independently determinative.

Conclusion: The revocation order is set aside for failure to comply with the 90-day time limit under Regulation 17(7) of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018. The appeal is allowed in favour of the appellant.

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