Delhi HC makes exam mandatory for custom house agents

The Delhi High Court ruled that to be a Custom House Agent it will be mandatory for aspirants to clear an exam stipulated by the Custom House Agent License Regulation (CHALR) in 2004.

A bench comprising Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudershan K Mishra said all those who have fulfilled the criterion set up in 1984 by the CHALR Act and are yet to get the license to be the permanent agents will have to clear the examination.

The court directed the Customs Authorities to allow all those who are working as temporary agents to continue with their work till they clear the examination which will be conducted in the near future.

Rajan Sabharwal, counsel for the customs department, contended that as per the rules, initially an H-card used to be issued to all those who wanted to be temporary license holders. Then they were issued the G-card for a period of three years and as per the rule 9 (5) of the Act, to get a permanent license, such persons, in addition to fulfilling other criterion, had to clear the examination also, he said.

In the year 2004, these rules were superseded and the persons desirous of getting the permanent license were asked to clear just one examination. The temporary licenses was done away with and examination for permanent custom agent was started.

Many agents, who had cleared the examination earlier and were awaiting results, were now asked to appear in the examination afresh. Resenting to such a situation the agents approached the court contending that they have already gone through the process as stipulated in the 1984 rules and hence should be granted the same without appearing in the examination again as per the 2005 rules.

A single-judge bench of the HC on July 23, 2005 had held that once the examination results were declared the government should implement the 1984 rules.

The court today set aside the single judge order of July 2005 and said the respondents who could not be granted the licenses earlier should be allowed to appear in the examination and the names of the successful candidates should be considered on priority basis in terms of availability of the licenses.