Natural justice breach vitiates adjudication where relied-upon CLRI material is withheld and hearing is denied; matter remanded.

An adjudication founded on undisclosed relied-upon material and completed without a proper hearing was vitiated by breach of natural justice. The query sent to CLRI and the CLRI report, both relied upon in the proceedings, were not supplied to the appellant, depriving it of a fair opportunity to meet the case against it. The order was therefore unsustainable and was set aside. The matter was remanded to the original adjudicating authority for fresh decision on merits after supplying the CLRI query and report and affording reasonable opportunity of hearing.

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Issues: Whether the order under challenge was liable to be set aside for violation of the principles of natural justice and whether the matter required remand for fresh decision after supplying the documents and affording hearing.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the denial of a fair opportunity to meet the case against the appellant. The record showed that the query sent to the CLRI and the CLRI report, both relied upon in the proceedings, had not been supplied. The adjudication was also completed without affording a proper hearing. In these circumstances, the defect was not merely procedural but went to the fairness of the adjudication itself.

Conclusion: The order was unsustainable for breach of natural justice and the matter was remanded to the original adjudicating authority for fresh decision on merits after supplying the CLRI query and report and granting reasonable opportunity of hearing.

Ratio Decidendi: An adjudication based on undisclosed relied-upon material and without a reasonable opportunity of hearing is vitiated by violation of natural justice and must be set aside with remand for de novo consideration.

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