Page 122 - ELT_1st July 2020_Vol 373_Part 1

32 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 373

satisfaction of the Commissioner of Customs, that :-
(a) ………
……….
……….
(f) an individual applicant or in case the applicant is a firm or
company its partner or director or an authorised employee
who may handle the Customs work shall :
(i) be a graduate from a recognized University, and
(ii) possess a professional degree such as Masters or equiva-
lent degree in Accounting, Finance or Management,
CA/MBA/LLB or Diploma in Customs Clearance work
from any Institutes or University recognised by the Gov-
ernment or is having at least two years experience in
transacting Customs Broker work as G-Card holder;’
4. Learned Counsel for the appellant/Revenue Department
Mr. Shanmugam Rajasekar sought to urge before us the qualifications of the writ
petitioner before the Court as given in paragraph 2 of the order of the Learned
Single Judge, appear to be Bachelor’s Degree in Science from the University of
Madras in the year 1975 along with Master Degree in Science in Chemistry with
first Class from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and Master’s Degree in
Business Administration from International University of Louisiana, USA.
5. Apparently being in possession of high degrees also, the application
of the respondent for obtaining licence under CBLR, was not entertained and
only under the interim order of the Learned Single Judge dated 21-1-2015, he was
allowed to appear for the written examination that was held on 28-1-2015 and the
result of the examination was directed to be kept in a sealed cover, which after
the order of the Learned Single Judge appears to have been declared. By the or-
der impugned before us, the Learned Single Judge directed the respondents to
publish the petitioner’s result in the written examination held on 28-1-2015 and
permitted him to participate in the subsequent interview/vivavoce, if he is found
to be qualified in the examination, without any further reference to his educa-
tional qualification.
6. The contention raised by the Learned Counsel appearing for the
Revenue before us is that even though the applicant Mr. Radhakrishnan, fulfilled
the condition (i) in Regulation 5(f) of CBLR , as he was a graduate from a recog-
nized University in Science, the Masters Degree of Business Administration from
International University of Louisiana, USA was not recognized as equivalent to
Master’s Degree in Business Administration in India, therefore part (ii) of the
said clause 5(f) was not satisfied. He emphasises that the words ‘possession of pro-
fessional degree such as Masters or equivalent degree in Account-
ing/Finance/Management, CA/MBA/LLB or Diploma in Customs Clearance work from
any institute or university recognized by the government’ were not satisfied, even
though the applicant Mr. T. Radhakrishnan was the Master of Science from the
Indian Institute of Technology.
7. We are unable to accept the said submission of the Learned Counsel
for the appellant/Revenue. The word ‘or’ in clause (ii) of clause 5(f) of the CBLR,
makes the two parts mutually exclusive and independent. Therefore, the words
‘possess a professional degree such as Masters’, without any specification of the sub-
ject in the said clause, could encompass, in our opinion, the Masters Degree in
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