Mandatory ninety-day show cause timeline under Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations breaches vitiate the notice and inquiry report.

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....The Madras HC held that the ninety-day period in Regulation 17(1) of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018 for issuing a show cause notice after receipt of the offence report is mandatory. Relying on its earlier binding decisions, the Court rejected the contrary view that the provision is merely directory. Because the impugned show cause notice was issued beyond the prescribed period, it was vitiated and set aside, and the consequential inquiry report founded on that notice also could not survive.....