Licensing of private warehouses:

At any warehousing station, the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Customs may license private warehouses wherein dutiable goods imported by or on behalf of the licensee, or any other imported goods in respect of which facilities for deposit in a public warehouse are not available, may be deposited. [Section 58(1)]

The power to renew warehousing licence is a discretionary act. Merely because an application for renewal is made before expiry of existing licence, the authority is not bound to grant extension, particularly when the original licence is granted for a limited duration.