Natural justice and personal hearing requirements: adjudication order set aside for failure to provide a fair hearing.

Failure to grant a proper personal hearing before passing an adjudication order can vitiate the proceedings where the matter remains pending for an extended period after the last effective hearing and no fresh hearing date or intimation is issued. On those facts, the opportunity of hearing was held to be deficient and the requirement of fair hearing to have been breached. The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded for re-adjudication after affording a reasonable opportunity of personal hearing.

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Issues: Whether the adjudication order was vitiated for breach of the principles of natural justice on account of failure to afford a proper personal hearing before passing the order.

Analysis: The matter had been adjourned on several occasions, but the adjudicating authority kept the case pending for more than two years after the last effective hearing date and thereafter decided it without fixing any fresh date or issuing intimation of personal hearing. In these circumstances, the opportunity of hearing was found to be deficient, and the requirement of fair hearing was held to have been violated.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded for re-adjudication after affording a reasonable opportunity of personal hearing to the appellants.

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