Cross-examination rights in excise adjudication arise only after examination-in-chief, not at the show cause notice stage.

Cross-examination under section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 arises only after a witness has been summoned and examined in chief during adjudication. Persons named in a show cause notice cannot be cross-examined at the investigation or pre-adjudication stage, because their statements or documents are not yet evidence recorded in adjudication. A request made before commencement of adjudication and before examination-in-chief is therefore premature and not maintainable. At that stage, refusal of cross-examination does not amount to a breach of natural justice.

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Issues: Whether a request for cross-examination of persons named in the show cause notice could be entertained before the adjudication had commenced and before their examination-in-chief.

Analysis: Section 14 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 was treated as incorporating the procedural scheme reflected in the civil and criminal procedure codes and the Evidence Act. Cross-examination is a right that arises only after a witness has been examined in chief, and a person who has not yet been summoned or examined as a witness cannot be cross-examined. The documents referred to in the show cause notice were only part of the investigation stage and did not yet constitute evidence recorded in adjudication. The request was therefore considered premature, and no violation of natural justice was found at that stage.

Conclusion: The request for cross-examination before the commencement of adjudication and before examination-in-chief was not maintainable; the impugned order declining such request was upheld and the appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A request for cross-examination cannot be allowed before the adjudicating authority reaches the stage of recording examination-in-chief of a summoned witness, and no enforceable right to cross-examine arises at the show cause notice stage.

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