Natural justice requires disclosure of adverse material before cancelling registration; undisclosed enquiry material cannot sustain the order.

Cancellation of a registration certificate was vitiated because it was founded on adverse local enquiry material and statements recorded behind the petitioner's back, without disclosure of the enquiry particulars, the persons examined, or the material relied upon. The tribunal treated this as a breach of natural justice, since a decision affecting civil or statutory rights cannot stand when the affected party is denied a meaningful opportunity to meet the adverse material. The cancellation order was set aside and the matter left open for fresh consideration after affording a fair and reasonable hearing.

---

---

Issues: Whether the cancellation of registration certificate was vitiated for breach of natural justice because the local enquiry and statements relied upon were made behind the petitioner's back.

Analysis: The cancellation rested on a local enquiry and statements of the building owner, but the petitioner was not furnished the particulars of the enquiry, the identity of the persons examined, or the material recorded against him. The adverse material was relied upon without giving him an opportunity to meet it. In these circumstances, the decision-making process was found to be unfair and contrary to natural justice.

Conclusion: The cancellation order was set aside and the matter was left open for fresh consideration after giving the petitioner a fair and reasonable opportunity.

Ratio Decidendi: An order affecting civil or statutory rights cannot be sustained when it is based on undisclosed adverse material collected behind the back of the affected party without affording a meaningful opportunity to meet that material.

---