Natural justice requires notice before cancellation of a registration certificate, and writ relief may still lie despite alternative remedies.

Cancellation of a registration certificate, being a quasi-judicial action, is invalid if the holder is not given a fair opportunity to rebut adverse material collected by the assessing authority; the cancellation was therefore sustained as vitiated by breach of natural justice. The existence of an alternative statutory remedy does not bar writ relief under Articles 226 and 227 where the impugned action is without jurisdiction for violating natural justice, so the writ petition remained maintainable and the objection based on alternative remedy failed.

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Issues: (i) Whether the cancellation of the registration certificate was vitiated for want of an opportunity to rebut the material collected by the Assessing Authority; (ii) Whether the writ petition could be rejected on the ground that the statutory alternative remedy had not been exhausted.

Issue (i): Whether the cancellation of the registration certificate was vitiated for want of an opportunity to rebut the material collected by the Assessing Authority.

Analysis: Cancellation of a registration certificate is a quasi-judicial act and must be preceded by a fair opportunity to meet the material gathered against the certificate-holder. The finding recorded by the learned single judge that no copy of the material collected through the inspectorate staff was supplied to the dealer was a finding of fact. On the record, there was nothing to show that the adverse material had been communicated to the dealer.

Conclusion: The cancellation order was rightly held to be invalid for breach of natural justice, and the finding was against the appellant.

Issue (ii): Whether the writ petition could be rejected on the ground that the statutory alternative remedy had not been exhausted.

Analysis: The existence of an alternative statutory remedy is not an absolute bar to relief under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India. Where the impugned action is found to be without jurisdiction because it violates the principles of natural justice, the High Court may still exercise writ jurisdiction notwithstanding the availability of another remedy.

Conclusion: The writ petition was maintainable and the objection based on alternative remedy failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal did not succeed, and the quashing of the cancellation order was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: An order cancelling a registration certificate, being quasi-judicial in nature, is invalid if passed without giving the holder a fair opportunity to meet the adverse material, and the availability of an alternative remedy does not exclude writ relief where the order is without jurisdiction.

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