Natural justice and opportunity of hearing led to remand for fresh adjudication after procedural defect was found

Denial of an effective opportunity of hearing was treated as a breach of natural justice, and the defect was not regarded as curable. The appellant's contention that it could not respond to the show-cause notice because the unit was closed was accepted for limited procedural purposes, leading the Tribunal to dispense with pre-deposit and remand the matter to the adjudicating authority. Fresh adjudication was directed after granting the appellant an opportunity of hearing.

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Issues: Whether the adjudication and the appellate order could be sustained despite the grievance of denial of opportunity of hearing, and whether the matter should be remanded for fresh adjudication.

Analysis: The appellant asserted that it was unable to reply to the show-cause notice because the unit was closed and that no effective opportunity of hearing had been granted. The Tribunal accepted that violation of natural justice is not a curable defect and found it appropriate to dispense with the pre-deposit and send the matter back to the adjudicating authority for a fresh hearing.

Conclusion: The matter was remanded to the adjudicating authority for fresh consideration after granting the appellant an of hearing.

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