Lower court records must be examined before a second appeal is decided; remand without them is unsustainable.

A second appellate forum acting as the final fact-finding authority must call for and examine the lower court records before disposing of the appeal. Proceeding on the footing that such records were unavailable, and remanding the matter without perusing them, was held improper and vulnerable. The proper course was to secure the records and decide the appeal on merits after hearing both sides. The remand was therefore set aside and the Tribunal was directed to hear the appeal afresh with the relevant records before it.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal could remand the matter and dispose of the second appeal without calling for and examining the lower court records.

Analysis: The assessment and first appellate orders were based on the materials said to have been available in the record, while the Tribunal proceeded on the footing that the lower court records were not available. In a second appellate forum functioning as the final fact-finding authority, disposal of the appeal without perusing the lower court records was held to be improper and vulnerable. The appropriate course was to insist upon production of the records and then decide the appeal on merits after hearing both sides.

Conclusion: The remand by the Tribunal was unsustainable and was set aside, with a direction to the Tribunal to hear the appeal afresh after calling for and considering the lower court records.

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