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(d) advise his client to comply with the provisions of the Act and in case of non-compliance, shall bring the matter to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner of Customs or Assistant Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be;

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(n) verify correctness of Importer Exporter Code (IEC) number, Good and Services Tax Identification Number (GSTIN), identity of his client and functioning of his client at the declared address by using reliable, independent, authentic documents, data or information;"

8.2 We find from the records, that the appellants CB had obtained their authorization to act as a Customs House Agent/Broker for the purpose of clearance of import/export consignments as well as the KYC documents from the importer M/s Bruno Exports, Delhi vide their authorization letter dated 20.10.2020. Further, they had verified the existence of the importer through the Certificate of Importer-Exporter Code dated 19.09.2019 issued by the Zonal Director General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India indicating the name along with address, name of the partner; Permanent Account Number (PAN) card of the partners/importer and the GST Registration Certificate issued on 21.09.2019. Further, the appellants claimed that Shri Sadgun Ram Kathe, Director of appellants CB had personally contacted the partner Shri Rohan Kumar during his visits to Delhi by producing copies of tickets for travel by him, which the learned Principal Commissioner had turned down on the ground that the same does not serve as an evidence to establish that they had met the partner of importer firm. Thus, he concluded in the impugned order that the appellants CB has not been careful and not diligent in undertaking the KYC of the background of importer and accepted documents through the intermediary.

Accordingly, Regulation 13 of CHALR, 2004, has been suitably amended to provide that certain obligations on the CHAs to verify the antecedent, correctness of Import Export Code (IEC) Number, identity of his client and the functioning of his client in the declared address by using reliable, independent, authentic documents, data or information. In this regard, a detailed guideline on the list of documents to be verified and obtained from the client/customer is enclosed in the Annexure. It would also be obligatory for the client/customer to furnish to the CHA, a photograph of himself/herself in the case of an individual and those of the authorised signatory in respect of other forms of organizations such as company/trusts etc., and any two of the listed documents in the annexure.

11. Further, we also find that the Hon'ble High Court of Delhi has held in the case of Kunal Travels (Cargo) Vs. Principal Commissioner of Customs (I&G), IGI Airport, New Delhi reported in 2017 (354) E.L.T. 447 (Del.), the appellants CB is not an Inspector of Customs who would have an expertise to weigh the genuineness of the transaction. The relevant portion of the said judgement is extracted below:

"The CHA is not an inspector to weigh the genuineness of the transaction. It is a processing agent of documents with respect to clearance of goods through customs house and in that process only such authorized personnel of the CHA can enter the customs house area....... It would be far too onerous to expect the CHA to inquire into and verify the genuineness of the IE Code given to it by a client for each import/export transaction. When such code is mentioned, there is a presumption that an appropriate background check in this regard i.e. KYC etc. would have been done by the customs authorities."