Natural justice and relevant-issue review required where appellate order ignored debit-note transportation charges and relied on unrelated valuation issues.

Differential Central Excise duty on transportation charges collected through debit notes was not examined on the relevant facts, because the first appellate authority failed to address the appellant's case that the charges reflected actual customer-informed expenses. The order instead relied on issues of job conversion for SAIL and valuation that were not in dispute, making it disconnected from the controversy raised. The impugned order was therefore set aside and the matter remitted to the first appellate authority for fresh consideration in accordance with natural justice.

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Issues: Whether differential Central Excise duty was payable on transportation charges collected by debit notes, and whether the first appellate order could be sustained.

Analysis: The impugned order did not address the appellant's case that the transportation charges collected through debit notes were actual charges informed by customers. It also proceeded on considerations relating to job conversion for SAIL and valuation, which were not the issue before the authority. The order was found to be disconnected from the controversy raised and to have been passed without proper consideration of the relevant submissions.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remitted to the first appellate authority for fresh consideration after following the principles of natural justice.

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