( 1 ) THIS writ petition is directed against the public Notice No. 9/2001 Customs dated 3-2-2001 issued by the Commissioner pf central Excise and Customs, Guntur (the commissioner, for brevity), the first respondent herein.

( 2 ) THE petitioner is a Company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, in the year 1989 and having its registered office at Plot No. 1497, J Block, 16th Main Road, Anna Nagar, Chennai 600 040. According to the petitioner, it is involved in the business of clearing and forwarding the goods, which arrive at various ports and also those, which are meant for export to other countries.

( 3 ) THE petitioner-Company has been granted licence to act as Custom House agent (CHA, for brevity) by the commissioner vide CHA Licence No. 5/91 (Regular) which has since been renewed vide C. No. VIII/13/5/99-Cus. Tech. dated 15-11-1999 and valid up to 25-11-2004. As per the licence issued, the licensee is authorized to transact business as Customs house Agent at ICD Reddipalem, Guntur.

( 4 ) THE Container Corporation of India limited, Guntur, (CONCOR, for brevity), the 2nd respondent herein after developing the area and upgrading the facilities by providing infrastructure at ICD, reddipalem, Guntur and furnishing the undertakings and requisite Bond, as required in Boards Circular No. 128/95 dated 14-12-1995 requested the commissioner for renotification of the "customs Area" and appointment of concor as the Custodian. After inspection of the new facilities and scrutiny of the Undertakings, the Commissioner issued notification No. 1/2001 dated 17-1-2001 appointing CONCOR as the custodian and Public Notice No. 9/2001 dated 3-2-2001 prescribing the procedure to be followed at ICD, Reddipalem, Guntur for Imports/exports.

( 5 ) THE impugned notification inter-alia provides:". . . . . FOR factory stuffing CONCOR shall arrange for movement of empty containers to the Factories for stuffing and after completion of stuffing and customs sealing it is the responsibility of CONCOR as a Custodian to transport by Rail/road to the gateway Port directly therefrom. They will also be responsible for the safe delivery of the (Stuffed) export containers to the gateway ports. The notifications/permissions granted for transportation of customs sealed export containers as the gateway ports other than by means arranged by the authorized custodian viz. , m/s. CONCOR will henceforth be discontinued i. e. , in all cases where shipping bills are filed with ICD, reddipalem, Guntur since all Export containers after Customs sealing will be moved to the Gateway Ports under the Custodian ship of CONCOR".

( 6 ) THE impugned public notice among other things also provides"the CONCOR shall be solely responsible for the carriage of the goods from the ICD, Reddipalem, guntur to the Gateway ports, as the case may be (upto on Board the Vessel and till the mate receipt is issued by the Captain of the Vessel)".

( 7 ) COMPLAINING that the effect of the impugned public notice is to confer monopoly on the CONCOR to transport goods and oust the petitioner and like others from the business of transport, the writ petition is filed assailing its validity and legality. In paras 3 and 4 of the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, it is stated"3. The petitioner respectfully submits that the functions of a CHA are two fold. The first part of the CHA s work is to clear the goods from the port, in case of import, by doing the necessary paper work and obtaining clearance from Custom and Central Excise authorities to move the goods. In case of exports, the goods are cleared for export from the container terminals either at the port or at other places. After complying with all the procedural formalities, the goods are loaded into the ships bound for the country of destination, in case of exports or sent to the concerned importer. Thus after the paper work is completed, the goods have to be necessarily transport to either the warehouse of the importer o