TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2015 (12) TMI 584
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....oods were found to be overvalued for claiming undue export benefits. Noticing that the appellant (i) had not taken authorization from the exporter, (ii) had not verified the antecedents of the exporter, and (iii) dealt with the exporter through a mediator, the Commissioner held the appellant guilty of violating the provisions of Regulation 13 of the Customs House Agent Licensing Regulations, 2004 (CHALR, 2004) and consequently the Commissioner in exercise of power under Regulation 20 (7) of CHALR 2004 (corresponding to Regulation 18 read with Regulation 20(7) of Customs Broker Licensing Regulations 2013 (CBLR, 2013)) revoking the CHA licence of the appellant. 3. The appellant has contended that (i) the time-limit prescribed for suspensi....
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....e considered the contentions of the appellant. It is an admitted fact that the appellant had not taken authorization from the exporter who was found to be non-existent and the goods were found misdeclared and highly overvalued. The Regulation 13 of CHALR, 2004 reads as under: "Regulation 13. Obligation of Customs House Agent. - A Customs House Agent shall - (a) obtain an authorization from each of the companies, firms or individuals by whom he is for the time being employed as Customs House Agent and produce such authorization whenever required by the Deputy Commissioner of Customs or Assistant Commissioner of Customs; (b) transact business in the Customs Station either personally or through an employee duly approved by the Deputy Com....
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....the conduct of any official of the Customs Station in any matter pending before such official or his subordinates by the use of threat, false accusation, duress or the offer of any special inducement or promise of advantage or by the bestowing of any gifts or favour or other thing of value; (j) not refuse access to, conceal, remove or destroy the whole or any part of any book, paper or other record, relating to his transactions as a Customs House Agent which is sought or may be sought by the Commissioner of Customs; (k) maintain records and accounts in such form and manner as may be directed from time to time by a Deputy Commissioner of Customs or Assistant Commissioner of Customs and submit them for inspection to the said Deputy Commis....
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....ed by the Commissioner is arbitrary or unreasonable. The case-law of A.M. Ahamed & Co. v. C.C. (Imports), Chennai - 2014 (309) ELT 433 (Mad.) dealt with the suspension of the licence and not revocation of the licence and hence it is not applicable to the present case. We find that in this case the enquiry report was submitted on 16.1.2015 and the impugned order revoked the licence on 13.4.2015 and therefore the order was passed within the time limit prescribed under Regulation 22 of the CHALR, 2004. Several other judgments cited are in regard to reasonability of the punishment stating that the punishment should be commensurate with the offence. This ratio is unexceptionable. It is pertinent to mention that reasonability of the punishment an....
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....TIOL-424-HC-MUM-CUS], the Bombay High Court apart from upholding the principle of liability of the CHA for the act of its employees went on to observe as under: "27. We have noted what the Tribunal has observed in the impugned order. In our view, the finding given by the Enquiring Officer and thereafter the order passed by the appellant in original are fully justified on the facts of the case. The authorities relied upon by Mr. Kantawala undoubtedly are mostly of the Tribunal. Even the judgment of the Calcutta High Court speaks about the suspension of licence not to be continued indefinitely. Here, we are concerned with revocation which has been resorted to after a due enquiry. We are conscious that the punishment has to be commensurate w....
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....th these aspects are satisfied if an outsider Tribunal interferes, its findings and order will be improper and perverse which is what has happened in the present case. Similarly when one comes to the disciplinary measures, one must not lose sight of the fact that the appellant-Commissioner of Customs is responsible for happenings in the Customs area and for the discipline to be maintained over there. If he takes a decision necessary for that purpose, the Tribunal is not expected to interfere on the basis of its own notions of the difficulties likely to be faced by the CHA or his employees. The decision is best to be left to the disciplinary authority save in exceptional cases where it is shockingly disproportionate or mala fide. That is not....