Specific allegations in Customs Broker notices are essential; vague notices invalidate disciplinary action and consequential licence sanctions.

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....Specific allegations in a show cause notice are essential to sustain disciplinary action against a Customs Broker for alleged failures to advise a client and exercise due diligence. Notices that merely reproduce material from proceedings against an importer, without identifying the Customs Broker's own contraventions, deny an effective opportunity to respond. A show cause notice forms the foundation of departmental action, and an order cannot travel beyond its stated allegations. Where the notices did not explain how the Customs Broker breached applicable obligations, they were treated as vague; consequently, the licence revocation, security-deposit forfeiture and penalty could not stand.....