TMI Blog2020 (7) TMI 592X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... justice shall govern any action that leads to detriment. It would appear that the inquiry had not distinguished itself by conformity to the fundamental requirement of notice of intention to conduct hearings. The request for cross-examination off investigating officer emanated from the charged customs broker and it was incumbent upon the inquiry authority to intimate, and carry on with the deposition of the summoned witness, in, and unfailingly so, the presence of the noticee. In the absence of acceptability of the enquiry report and the consequent reliance placed upon it by the Commissioner of Customs, we are unable to take a view on the correctness, or otherwise, of the charge in the notice issued to the appellant. Accordingly, we ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on no. 11 (n), as it then was under Customs Broker Licensing Regulations, 2013 and now regulation no. 10 (n) of Customs Broker Licensing Regulations, 2019, can be traced to the detection of 38 nos. of gold bars valued at ₹11,71,54,000/- concealed in the soles of as many slippers entered for import by M/s Al Rehman Impex against bill of entry no. 3350653/22.09.2017 filed on their behalf by the appellant. He contends that it is apparent from the notice itself, restricting the allegation to not having verified the antecedents, the identity and location, as well as the correctness of the IEC, of the client before accepting the authorisation, that there is no evidence, direct or circumstantial, and no statement that enlarges upon the rol ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... toms Act, 1962, in which the proposal for imposition of penalties on the appellant herein, as the customs broker therein, was dropped. We are unable to ascertain the influencing effect of these misplaced, and only partially truthful, narrations on the findings of the inquiry or the detriment imposed in the impugned order. 5. The enquiry report incorporates proceedings of hearing held on several days and we find that the reply to the notice, offered on 11 th June 2018 after the relied upon documents were made available to the appellant vide letter dated 18th May 2016, had sought crossexamination of the investigating officer. It is also seen from the report that, acting upon this request, the inquiry authority summoned the officer, who ha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... In the first response to the notice, by letter dated 18th June 2018, the customs broker had denied the charge and sought to be heard in person. Thereafter, we find order sheet of hearing, held on 12th July 2018, solely for the purpose of recording the deposition of the investigating officer and which, while recording the presence of the Presenting Officer, establishes that the charged customs broker was not. There is no indication of the customs broker having been served with notice of this hearing. It appears from the record that, at the next hearing held on 7th August 2018, the charged customs broker had participated in the proceedings and had sought certain documents including the order sheet of the previous hearing which were du ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... les of natural justice. Not unnaturally, the inquiry report is bereft of the sanctity accorded to it by the Commissioner of Customs. Thereby, the finding in the impugned order also stand vitiated. 9. In the absence of acceptability of the enquiry report and the consequent reliance placed upon it by the Commissioner of Customs, we are unable to take a view on the correctness, or otherwise, of the charge in the notice issued to the appellant. Consequently, we are unable to decide on the notice itself. Accordingly, we set aside the impugned order and direct the Commissioner of Customs to institute a fresh inquiry and, after detailed consideration of the report arising therefrom as well as the response of the noticee, if any, to pass a detai ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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