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2019 (1) TMI 573 - AT - CustomsRevocation of CHA License - forfeiture of security deposit - delay in issuance of inquiry report - time limitation - The Show Cause Notice was issued on 22.02.2017. However, the Inquiry Report which should have been issued within ninety days i.e., before 22.05.2017, has been issued only on 06.06.2017 - Imposition of penalty - Held that:- The starting point of the proceedings inter alia for imposition of penalty is issue of a Notice within a period of ninety days from the date of receipt of an offence report, which requires the Customs Broker to submit within thirty days a written statement of defence, etc., to the Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner nominated by the said Commissioner of Customs. In a number of decisions and judgements, higher appellate fora have consistently held that the limitation periods prescribed in the CBLR, 2013 are not just directory, but, on the other hand, are mandatory. In the present case, the ninety-day period prescribed for submission of the report by the Inquiry Officer has indeed been exceeded, possibly because of the first appointed Inquiry Officer going on medical leave for forty five days, necessitating the appointment of a second Inquiry Officer. Nonetheless, when the prescribed periods are to be considered as mandatory, the concerned Custom House/Commissioner, in such an eventuality, should have immediately taken corrective action and possibly not waited so long for appointment of another Inquiry Officer - the moot point is that the ninety-day limit prescribed in Regulation 20(5) ibid has been breached, which cannot be condoned as a curable defect. The entire proceedings have been vitiated by non-adherence to the time-limit for submission of Inquiry Report prescribed in Regulation 20(5) ibid - appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant.
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