Fair hearing in excise adjudication requires consideration of replies and opportunity of hearing before any confirmatory order.

An adjudication order confirming excise duty and penalties was found procedurally unsustainable because the assessees' replies to the show cause notice were not taken on record or considered, and no reasonable personal hearing was granted. The defect was treated as a denial of fair hearing and a breach of basic adjudicatory procedure. The order was therefore set aside and the matter remanded to the Commissioner for fresh adjudication after recording the replies and affording the appellants a proper opportunity of hearing.

---

---

Issues: Whether the adjudication order, passed without taking the assessees' replies to the show cause notice on record and without affording them a hearing, could be sustained.

Analysis: The appeals arose from an order confirming excise duty and imposing penalties. The record showed that the appellants' replies to the show cause notice had not been received or considered before the impugned order was passed, and that the parties had not been afforded a reasonable opportunity of personal hearing. In these circumstances, the adjudication was found to be procedurally defective and contrary to the requirement of fair hearing.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the matters were remanded to the Commissioner for fresh adjudication after taking the replies on record and granting reasonable opportunity of hearing to the appellants.

---