Summons power under Central Excise law upheld where personal attendance was required for enquiry and no abuse of power was shown.

Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 authorises a duly empowered officer to summon a person for personal attendance to give evidence or produce documents in an enquiry, and that power is distinct from a mere request for information. Prior compliance with earlier letters seeking documents did not extinguish the statutory power to issue summons, and no mala fides, coercion, duress, or other abuse of power was shown. The writ court therefore declined to interfere, and the summons were treated as valid.

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Issues: Whether summons issued to the petitioners under Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944, requiring personal appearance in an enquiry, were liable to be quashed on the ground that the required documents had already been supplied and the power had been exercised without application of mind.

Analysis: Section 14 empowers a duly authorised Central Excise Officer to summon any person whose attendance is considered necessary either to give evidence or to produce documents or other things in an enquiry under the Act. The power is distinct from a mere demand for documents and includes authority to require personal attendance for examination. The fact that earlier letters seeking information had been complied with did not take away the statutory power to summon the petitioners for evidence or enquiry. No material was shown to establish mala fides, coercion, duress, or other abuse of power, and such statutory action is not ordinarily interfered with in writ jurisdiction under Article 226. The reliance on the cited earlier decision was held to be inapplicable because it dealt with a different statutory context and jurisdictional defect.

Conclusion: The summons were held to be valid and not liable to be interfered with in writ jurisdiction.

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