Separate customs-station licensing defeated stay of CHA licence revocation; aggregation of business was not enough for interim relief.

A request to stay revocation of a Custom House Agent licence was rejected because the licensing framework was treated as operating separately at each customs station, and the revocation in question concerned only the Kandla licence while the Mumbai licence remained unaffected. The argument that business at all customs stations should be aggregated for assessing sufficiency of business was noted as having not been considered earlier and as warranting serious consideration, but it was not enough to justify interim relief. No sufficient ground was found to suspend the impugned order, and the stay application was dismissed.

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Issues: Whether operation of the order revoking the Custom House Agent licence should be stayed, particularly on the contention that the business of the agent at all customs stations should be aggregated for assessing sufficiency of business.

Analysis: The plea for stay was examined in the light of the departmental objection that licensing under the relevant regulations operates separately at each customs station and that the revocation concerned only the Kandla licence, while the Mumbai licence remained unaffected. The contention had not been considered in the earlier order and was treated as requiring serious consideration.

Outcome: No sufficient ground was found to stay the operation of the impugned order, and the stay application was dismissed.

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