Natural justice breached where excise order was finalised without personal hearing; order quashed and fresh decision permitted.

An excise authority's order determining production capacity and directing duty payment was held vulnerable where no notice of personal hearing was issued before finalising the provisional determination. The absence of a reasonable opportunity to be heard was treated as a breach of natural justice, and the impugned order was quashed and set aside. The authority was left free to pass a fresh order in accordance with law after giving the affected party a proper hearing.

---

---

Issues: Whether the excise authority's order determining production capacity and directing payment of duty was liable to be quashed for breach of the principles of natural justice for want of notice of personal hearing.

Analysis: The petition challenged the order passed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India on the ground that no notice of personal hearing had been issued before finalising the provisional determination. The pleadings were not denied on this aspect, and the absence of a reasonable opportunity of hearing rendered the impugned order vitiated by breach of natural justice.

Conclusion: The order was quashed and set aside as being in breach of the principles of natural justice, with liberty to the authority to pass a fresh order in accordance with law after giving the petitioner a reasonable opportunity of being heard.

---