Granting of fresh custom house agent license

**Bipin** · 07-23-2008, 12:39 PM

Respected Sir,

Hello and good Afternoon.
I am posting my 1st thread for help and reproduced instruction no.502/5/2005-Cus.VI dt.31/10/07 issued by The Under Secretary (Cus.VI) G.O.I., Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, Central Board of Excise and Customs, New Delhi.

Custom House Agent License
[Public Notice inviting applications for CHA license:
Regulation 4 of CHALR, 2004, provides the process of issue of CHA licenses in detail and is a continuous step-by-step process. The regulations do not provide for a split up process of grant of CHA license by first inviting through Public Notice for appearance in the examination and subsequently, a separate notice for grant of CHA license to those qualified in examination. It is hereby clarified that all Commissioners of Customs shall issue only a single Public Notice inviting applications for grant of CHA licenses which shall provide details regarding examination, conditions etc. as detailed in Regulation 4 to 8 of the CHALR, 2004.

Issue of CHA licenses to applicants who had passed the examinations under CHALR, 2004 :

It has been represented to the Board that some of the Commissionerates have not invited applications for grant of CHA license, since the norms for issue of fresh license are required to be reviewed by the Board. Further, in cases where the applicants having passed the requisite examination under Regulation 8 of CHALR, 2004, have not been granted with a CHA license. Board had also examined these issues and decided that irrespective of the norms prescribed by the Board vide F.No.502/5/93-Cus-VI dated 18.5.1994 under CHALR, 1984, concerned Commissioners of Customs shall issue CHA licenses to all those applicants who had passed the Regulation 8 examination conducted under CHALR, 2004, subject to their fulfillment of the requisite conditions as mentioned in CHALR, 2004. Board desires that the Commissioners of Customs shall clear up backlog of pending requests by various applicants who had qualified as per CHALR, 2004, for issue of licenses which have been held up by various Customs Commissionerates within a month and send a compliance report to the Board.

[RIGHT] [/RIGHT]

I applied to grant a cha license w.r.f to the above instruction of board and the same was rejected by customs, kandla on the ground that " THE CLARIFICATION ISSUED BY BOARD'S LETTER F.NO. 502/5/2005-Cus.VI Dt.31/10/07 IS WITH REFERENCE TO CLEARING UP BACKLOG OF PENDING REQUESTS BY VARIOUS APPLICANTS WHICH HAVE BEEN HELD UP "

IN THIS CONNECTION PLS. CLARIFY/INFM. WHETHER THE SAID INSTRUCTION ISSUED BY BOARD IS APPLICABLE TO THOSE APPLICANTS WHO FILED THEIR APPLICATION WITHOUT INVITING PUBLIC NOTICE BY CONCERN COMMISSIONER WHICH WAS MENTION ED IN INSTRCTION AS

" Further, in cases where the applicants having passed the requisite examination under Regulation 8 of CHALR, 2004, have not been granted with a CHA license. Board had also examined these issues and decided that irrespective of the norms prescribed by the Board vide F.No.502/5/93-Cus-VI dated 18.5.1994 under CHALR, 1984, concerned Commissioners of Customs shall issue CHA licenses to all those applicants who had passed the Regulation 8 examination conducted under CHALR, 2004, subject to their fulfillment of the requisite conditions as mentioned in CHALR, 2004. "

The Customs, Delhi invited application and issued cha license vide P.N. No. 14/07 dt.16/11/07. [after issuing board's instruction abv letter.]

The customs, kandla not issued any cha license since 1992.

pls. advice to get clarification fm CBEC through RTI.

thksnbrgds/bipin soni

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**Bipin** · 08-06-2008, 10:27 AM

Respected Kariraji.

Thxs. for yr kind support/guidance, I presumed that draft application is okay, and go ahead to submit the same.

Will rvrt after n e reply.

thksnbrgds/bipin soni

**Bipin** · 09-10-2008, 04:45 PM

Sponsorer

Originally Posted by karira

bipin,

All looks OK, but why are you asking for information only from 2007 onwards.
Ask for all information on a yearly basis from 2000 to 2008 (uto 31 July 2008). This will help you in proving your case with Kandla Commissionerate. It will also make things clear as to what happened prior to the issue of that notification and what happened after the notification was issued in 2005.

Question sent to CBEC
Description of the information required:
1]. Board’s Instruction No. 502/5/2005- Cus .VI Dt.31/10/07 issued by CBEC has been sent to The Commissioner of customs, Kandla.
2]. Pursuant to above instruction, how many CHA licenses have been issued by different Commissionerates of Customs to candidates Passed Regulation-8 under
CHALR-2004 of the following categories:
a]. Clearing of backlog of pending requests.
b]. To those who applied without inviting public notice by concerned.
Please provide me the requested information commissionerate wise.
Answer replied by CBEC
At the outset it is stated that fee enclosed with the RTI application is not in favour of the designated authorities hence demand draft is being returned. Applicant may re-submit the fee if he desires to do so, after making corrections.
The application stands disposed in terms of the above. However, to assist the applicant in his quest for information, the request above is examined and it is informed that commissionerate-wise details are not available with the board’s office as such information is not maintained by the board. The information as requested by the applicant may be available with the public authorities of the field formations, i.e. CPIO/commissioner of customs, where such data is maintained. Accordingly, the applicant may seek the said information from the cpios of the customs field formations in the cbec. The list of the cpios under cbec is available at http://www.cbec.gov.in/info-act/cpio-capio-idx.htm.
Please note
The demand draft for rs. 10/- sent in favour of The accounts officer of the public authority, payable at new delhi.
The above link page is not open on net.
The reply is given by Under Secretary.
They are ignoring the Office Memorandum No. F.NO.1/2/2007-IR Dt.23/03/07 issued by Ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions, department of personal & training.

Question sent to Custom Commissioner, Kandla.
1]. The period to which the information relates: 01/08/07 TO 31/07/08
2]. Description of the information required:
1]. Please provide me the number of CHA licenses issued under the following two categories
since 01/08/07.
a]. Clearing of backlog of pending requests.
b]. To those who applied without inviting public notice by concerned.
2].Under Sec 4(1)(d), please provide me the reasons for your administrative decision for not issuing any new licences since 2007 and moreover not issuing any licences to those who applied without invitation from 01/11/07 since I am a affected person.
Answer replied by The Asstt. Commissioner of customs, Kandla.
[Replied with Order In Original may be call Speaking Order]
Stating file no, OIO No., passed by, date of order/date of issue:02/09/08, notice/party, 1. This order-in-original is granted to the concerned free of charge. 2]. Any person aggrieved by this order-in-original may file an appeal under section 19(1) of the RTI Act 2005 to: The Additional commissioner, Custom House, Kandla. 3]. Appeal shall be filed within thirty days from the date of receipt of this order in original accordance with the provisions of section 19(1) of the RTI Act,2005.

REPLY
Para-1 (a) NIL i.e.1]. Please provide me the number of CHA licenses issued under the following two categories since 01/08/07. a]. Clearing of backlog of pending requests.
Para-1 (b) NIL i.e. b]. To those who applied without inviting public notice by concerned.
Para-2 This office has already intimated the position to higher formation and awaiting instructions. i.e. 2].Under Sec 4(1)(d), please provide me the reasons for your administrative decision for not issuing any new licences since 2007 and moreover not issuing any licences to those who applied without invitation from 01/11/07 since I am a affected person.
Please note:
Pls. suggest/guide us.
rgds/bipin

**karira** · 09-10-2008, 08:35 PM

Bipin,

Regarding the CBEC reply, it is all clear. They do not have the information of each commissionerate. The only mistake is about the IPO. There is no point in pursuing that further except for sending a simple letter to the person who replied to you and pointing out the 2 circulars of DoPT in this regard.

Regarding Kandla, they have informed you part of the information (NIL and NIL and waiting for instructions).

The "waiting for higher formation" is not reason under Sec 4(1)(d). File a First Appeal to the FAA as per details given. In that you can also say that you cannot understand the CPIO's information and that since matters are not clear you would like to inspect all correspondence between Kandla and "higher formation". That inspection will give you the clue to what is happening.

Please remember that at the First Appeal stage you cannot ask for "inspection" in writing since it is not allowed to ask for additional information at the time of First Appeal. Therefore, only bring it up during the First Appeal hearing and verbally (ask for personal hearing).

**Bipin** · 09-12-2008, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by karira

Bipin,

Regarding the CBEC reply, it is all clear. They do not have the information of each commissionerate. The only mistake is about the IPO. There is no point in pursuing that further except for sending a simple letter to the person who replied to you and pointing out the 2 circulars of DoPT in this regard.

Regarding Kandla, they have informed you part of the information (NIL and NIL and waiting for instructions).

The "waiting for higher formation" is not reason under Sec 4(1)(d). File a First Appeal to the FAA as per details given. In that you can also say that you cannot understand the CPIO's information and that since matters are not clear you would like to inspect all correspondence between Kandla and "higher formation". That inspection will give you the clue to what is happening.

Please remember that at the First Appeal stage you cannot ask for "inspection" in writing since it is not allowed to ask for additional information at the time of First Appeal. Therefore, only bring it up during the First Appeal hearing and verbally (ask for personal hearing).

Respected Kariraji.
Thxs. for yr kind infm.
I request u to what to do/suggest for filing of application again with 1]. cbec & 2] customs, kandla [fm other affected person].
sir will u plz. provide yr contact details for further assistance/guidance.

rgds/bipin

**Georgeseagull** · 09-12-2008, 12:49 PM

Hi Folks,

I was browsing through Bipin's quest. As a person who has done CHA work for over 20 years, let me add that in my understanding,

1) You cannot insist that a Commissioner MUST invite applications and license CHA agents every year. It is upto his discretion to decide when more CHAs ar required in his commissionerate.
2) The CHA regulations appear to be very clear that you may apply only in response toan invitation to apply from the Commissioner.

I do not see how Bipin has anything to gain from pursuing his line of enquiry.

If he is keen, and fulfils the qualifications of CHA regulations 2004, he should wait till January, only three months away, see if any custom house anywhere in India is issuing fresh licenses, and apply there. CHA licenses are now valid all over India.

Regards to all, Nice to be in this forum. I think RTI is a wonderful gift to the future of India.

George