Natural justice requires supply of relied and unrelied documents before show cause proceedings continue.

Principles of natural justice require that a noticee be supplied the material proposed to be used against it so an effective reply can be filed, and documents or records not relied upon in the show cause notice should be returned or made available. The HC accepted the petitioner's grievance in substance and directed the authority to act in accordance with law without proceeding arbitrarily or denying a proper opportunity to the petitioner.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to supply of the relied upon and unrelied upon documents before the show cause proceedings were taken further, in view of the principles of natural justice.

Analysis: The petition relied on settled law that a noticee must be supplied the material proposed to be used against it so that an effective reply can be filed. The Court also referred to departmental circulars indicating that documents and records not relied upon in the show cause notice should be returned or made available to the concerned person, and that proceedings should not continue without proper opportunity.

Conclusion: The petitioner's grievance was accepted in substance, and the authority was directed to act in accordance with law without proceeding arbitrarily and without denying a proper opportunity to the petitioner.

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