2015 (11) TMI 1534 - HC - Customs

Seeking supply of relied upon documents - Letters sent by the petitioner requesting for relied upon documents are on record, there is no letter issued by the appropriate authorities in response to the same - Held that - while the petitioner made a request for the relied upon documents, the same were not supplied to the petitioner. As a result, the impugned order-in-original would have to be set aside on this ground alone. Adjudicating authority is directed to supply copies of all relied upon documents within a week to the petitioner. - Petition disposed of

Summary

Issues: Violation of principles of natural justice due to non-supply of relied upon documents and inadequate opportunity to represent the case.

Analysis:
The petitioners raised two main points in the petitions before the High Court. Firstly, they contended that certain relied upon documents were not provided to them despite repeated requests, resulting in the passing of the order-in-original without allowing them to file a complete reply. Secondly, they highlighted that a letter seeking time to submit a final reply and advance arguments was given to the adjudicating authority, but there was no acceptance or rejection of the letter, and no further time was granted before the orders-in-original were passed. The petitioners argued that these actions violated the principles of natural justice and deprived them of a fair opportunity to present their case adequately.

The respondents, represented by their counsel, argued that full opportunities were indeed given to the petitioners, and the relied upon documents were furnished to them. They requested time to produce the relevant record to support their claim. However, upon examination of the record by the High Court, it was found that although the letters from the petitioners requesting the relied upon documents were on record, there was no response issued by the appropriate authorities, indicating that the documents were not supplied to the petitioners as requested. Consequently, the High Court concluded that the impugned order-in-original dated 10.06.2015 had to be set aside solely on the ground of non-supply of relied upon documents.

As a result of the above findings, the High Court set aside the impugned order-in-original dated 10.06.2015 and directed the adjudicating authority to provide copies of all relied upon documents to the petitioner within a week. The petitioner was instructed to furnish a reply to the show cause notice within four weeks from the receipt of the documents, with no further extension of time allowed. Subsequently, the adjudicating authority was directed to schedule a date for a personal hearing and pass an order in accordance with the law within four weeks from the submission of the reply. The writ petition was disposed of accordingly.