Pre-decisional opportunity in confiscation proceedings cannot be bypassed, and a later corrigendum cannot cure an unauthorised order.

A confiscation order passed on the same day as search and seizure, without a meaningful pre-decisional opportunity to file objections under section 28(6) of the A.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1957, was held unsustainable. A purported no-objection representation was not treated as a voluntary waiver on the facts, and a next-day corrigendum extending time for objections could not cure the defect because the Act did not empower the authority to revise or modify a confiscation order after it had been passed. The confiscation order and corrigendum were set aside, and the matter was left for fresh consideration after objections were filed in response to the notice.

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Issues: Validity of the confiscation order passed on the same day as the search and seizure, and the subsequent corrigendum modifying that order, in the context of the requirement of notice and opportunity under section 28(6) of the A.P. General Sales Tax Act, 1957.

Analysis: The order of confiscation was passed on the very day of the search and seizure, along with the notice proposing confiscation, without a real opportunity to submit objections. A representation said to have been made by the petitioner expressing no objection to confiscation was not treated as a voluntary waiver in the circumstances. The subsequent corrigendum issued the next day, extending time to file objections, could not cure the defect because no provision in the Act empowered the authority to revise or modify a confiscation order once passed.

Conclusion: The confiscation order and the corrigendum were unsustainable and were set aside.

Final Conclusion: The petitioner obtained relief against the confiscation action, and the matter was left for fresh consideration by the competent authority after objections were filed in response to the notice.

Ratio Decidendi: A confiscation order passed without a meaningful pre-decisional opportunity, and later sought to be altered by a corrigendum without statutory authority, cannot be sustained.

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