Quashed show cause notice leaves no live proceeding, so any later adjudication order is void.

An adjudication cannot validly proceed where the underlying show cause notice has already been quashed by the High Court, because no surviving proceeding remains for determination. An order passed after the foundational notice has ceased to exist is without legal basis and is null and void. The impugned adjudication therefore could not stand, and the appeal succeeded.

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Issues: Whether the adjudicating authority could lawfully pass an order on a show cause notice after that notice had already been quashed by the High Court.

Analysis: The show cause notice had been set aside by the High Court before the Commissioner passed the impugned adjudication order. The notice stood quashed on the date of adjudication and therefore no live notice remained for further adjudication. In these circumstances, the subsequent order was passed on a proceeding that had ceased to exist.

Conclusion: The adjudication order was without legal basis, null and void, and the appeal succeeded.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order could not stand because it was made after the foundational notice had already been annulled, with the result that the appeal was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: An adjudication made on a show cause notice that has already been quashed is void, because no surviving proceeding remains capable of lawful determination.

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