In the instant case before Calcutta High Court, presided by the bench of Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and Hiranmay Bhattacharyya directed the Principal Chief Commissioner of Customs to appoint another officer of same rank to hear the suspension of license of the respondent of the writ petition (Custom Broker).
The Revenue filed the intra court appeal against the order of the single bench to change the officer. However, the division bench has decided the same as the single bench.
Because the same authority that managed to draw the offence report against the respondents/writ petitioners that appears to have served as the framework for the action taken in accordance with the CBLR, 2018 provisions was the one who issued the post-decisional hearing notice on suspending the licence of the respondents/writ petitioners custom broker.
The division bench, after hearing both sides, found two possibilities. The first view is that if both the officers are one and the same person, it may give an impression that the officer may be judging his own cause while considering the correctness of the submission made by the respondent/writ petitioner in the postdecisional hearing offered to them upon suspension of the customs broker license.
The second view which is possible that if both the officers are one and same person and if he is discharging duties under two different and distinct capacity under two enactments whether it can be termed that he will be judging his own cause, the post decisional hearing should be an effective hearing and the principles of natural justice have to be followed and any iota of bias or prejudice should not surface in the decision making process.
The bench has provided 30 days to comply with the order of the single bench. Added that the respondent/writ petitioner has already filed a separate writ petition asserting that the order suspending the customs broker licence beyond the time period specified by the regulation is invalid and that the licence should be resumed, so the direction extending the time limit will not harm them in any way.
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