Natural justice in excise adjudication requires supply of relied upon documents and a meaningful hearing before confirming duty demands.

An adjudication confirming central excise duty and penalties was set aside where the assessee had not been supplied with the relied upon charts and duty calculations and was denied an effective opportunity to reply and be heard. The record did not clearly show full disclosure of the material used in the demand, and the dispute also involved the assessee's claim to exemption under Notification No. 8/97-C.E. and the use of indigenous raw materials. The matter was remanded to the Commissioner for de novo adjudication after supplying the specified documents and granting a sufficient hearing.

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Issues: Whether the adjudication order confirming excise duty and penalties could be sustained when the assessee had not been supplied with relied upon documents and had not been given an effective opportunity to reply and be heard.

Analysis: The appeals arose from a demand of central excise duty and consequential penalties on the premise that DTA clearances by a 100% EOU were under-valued and that the benefit of Notification No. 8/97-C.E. was not available beyond the permissible DTA entitlement. The record did not clearly establish that all relied upon documents, particularly the charts and duty calculations, had been supplied. In the absence of those documents, the assessee had not filed a reply to the show cause notice and the order had been passed without effective hearing. As the controversy also involved consideration of the assessee's claim to exemption and the use of indigenous raw materials, the matter required fresh adjudication after full disclosure and hearing.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded to the Commissioner for de novo adjudication after supplying the specified documents and affording a sufficient opportunity of hearing to the assessee.

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