9911796707
TMI Blog2000 (3) TMI 93X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... suspending or revoking the CHA licence. The CHA filed a reply on 22-11-1999. They also filed an application dated 28-9-1999 for renewal of this CHA licence. The Commissioner of Customs passed order, dated 7-2-2000. The concluding paragraph of his order reads as follows: "Therefore, I, V.P. Singh Commissioner of Customs (G), Mumbai, do hereby in exercise of powers conferred to me under Regulation 12[2](b) of Customs House Licensing Regulation, 1984, withhold the renewal of Customs House Agent's Licence held by M/s. P. Cawasji Co. CHA No.11/319, with immediate effect pending final report of the Inquiry Officer." Against this order the CHA filed an appeal and the present application with the following prayer: "(a) This Hon'ble Tribuna ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... licence. Sub-Section (6)(b) required a notice to be issued before rejection of grant of licence or for renewal of an existing licence. It prescribed the specifications on which the renewal could be refused and also provided for issue of a notice. A similar provision has not been made in the Regulations before us. It would, therefore, appear that the framers of the Regulations which are issued under the provisions of Section 146 of the Customs Act, 1962 did not consider the renewal of CHA licence as a quasi-judicial activity. If it were so, then the Commissioner was bound to follow the rules relating to notice etc. Where he had done that the resultant order would have qualified for the phrase used in Section 129A(1)(a), namely a decision or ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ee with the conclusion and decision made by my brother. 9.During the course of the argument, the learned counsel in a very emphatic and vehement way argued that the Tribunal has jurisdiction to entertain the appeal in terms of the provisions of Section 129A(a) of the Customs Act. Shri Mehta states that this is a decision or order passed by the Commissioner of Customs as an adjudicating authority. We have to consider the term adjudication found in the above provisions of the Customs Act. The term adjudicate has been defined by the Concise Oxford Dictionary 8th Edition at page 15 as "act as a judge and in a competition, court, tribunal, etc." Here the Commissioner has not acted as a court or a tribunal. A decision which he has rendered, acc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r is no. Irrespective of the fact that whether the preamble contains the words "an appeal should lie with the regional bench of the CEGAT", it is irrelevant to consider the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. Parties by agreement cannot have jurisdiction of a tribunal to hear the matter as stated by me earlier. Enactment of the Parliament would only confer jurisdiction or deny jurisdiction to hear a matter. The order has been made by the Commissioner in respect of the renewal application that such types of applications stand automatically renewed and only in respect of this application such a specific order has been based. In my view this may be a transgression of the principles of equality enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution in which rem ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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