Opportunity of Hearing must be given before taking Penal action under Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations: Calcutta HC [Read Order]

The single bench of the Calcutta High Court has held that an opportunity of hearing must be given before taking penal action under Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations.

The petitioner, JKG Associates Pvt. Ltd is a customs broker, who filed a writ petition challenging the action of the Customs authority imposing the penalty of Rs.50,000/-for the alleged violation of Regulation 10(o) of Customs Brokers Licensing Regulation, 2018.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the penalty is not sustainable for the reason of non-compliance with the formalities under Regulation 17 by which the respondent Commissioner of Customs was required to issue a notice in writing to the Customs Broker within a period of ninety days from the date of the alleged offense. The counsel for the petitioner by relying on the decision in Uma Nath Pandey Vs. State of U.P.further submitted that it is a well-settled principle of law that if any action by the authority against a person is adverse to his interest or penal, that person must be given an opportunity of hearing before taking such action

The Coram of Mr. Justice Md. Nizamuddinby relying on the decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Uma Nath Pandeyhas held that “I am of the considered view that the impugned order of imposing of penalty being Annexure P4 to the writ petition is not sustainable in law and the same is accordingly set aside and the matter is remanded back to the respondent Customs Authority to pass a fresh order after giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner”.

Adv.Mr. Arijit Chakrabarti and Adv. Mr. K.K. Maiti appeared on behalf of the petitioner and respondent respectively.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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