Legal principle

Suspension of an authorised courier's registration under the second proviso to Regulation 14(1) of the Courier Imports and Exports (Clearance) Regulations, 1998 is valid only pending an inquiry into revocation grounds preceded by a notice proposing revocation under the first proviso; absent such notice or proposal, the suspension is patently unsustainable.

Court decision

The Bombay High Court allowed the writ petition and quashed and set aside the impugned suspension order dated 1 October 2015 as illegal and unsustainable, without any order as to costs; it clarified that it expressed no opinion on the petitioner's conduct or complicity in the 8 September 2015 incident, leaving the authorities free to issue an independent show cause notice and take steps under Regulation 14 or any other applicable regulation.

Facts

TNT India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of TNT Express NV, was an authorised courier registered under the Courier Imports and Exports (Clearance) Regulations, 1998, operating at Mumbai and other airports since 1993. On 8-9 September 2015, Customs found that an import consignment declared as 'spare piston rings' actually contained parts weighing 2620 grams made of gold covered in silver, though the petitioner had presented the bill of entry and KYC documents of the importer's proprietor, whose stated premises turned out not to belong to him. An earlier similar incident in May 2015 had led to a show cause notice dated 20 May 2015, which remained undecided even after a personal hearing in August 2015. For the September 2015 incident, the Principal Commissioner of Customs (II) passed an order dated 1 October 2015 invoking Regulation 14 and suspending the petitioner's courier registration pending an inquiry into whether the registration should be revoked.

Key provisions

• Regulation 14, Courier Imports and Exports (Clearance) Regulations, 1998 — Deregistration