Natural justice in customs valuation requires supply of relied-upon documents before adjudication and remand follows non-compliance.

Non-supply of the documents and material relied upon in customs adjudication, including the valuation basis and the report treating the goods as Base Oil SN-500, was found to violate natural justice. The importer had disputed the contemporaneous value and the report, and there was no record showing that the relied-upon documents were furnished before the order was passed. The impugned order was therefore unsustainable, and the matter was remanded for fresh adjudication after supplying all relied-upon documents and giving a reasonable opportunity of personal hearing.

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Issues: Whether the impugned adjudication was vitiated for non-supply of the documents relied upon against the importer and whether the matter required remand for reconsideration after following the principles of natural justice.

Analysis: The appeal was tested on the question whether the appellant had been furnished the documents and material relied upon in the adjudication, including the basis for valuation and the report treating the goods as Base Oil SN-500. The record showed that the appellant had disputed the valuation and had not, as recorded in the impugned order, accepted the contemporaneous value or the IOCL report. Since there was no evidence that the relied-upon documents were supplied before the order was passed, the adjudication suffered from violation of natural justice. The matter therefore required fresh consideration on the basis of all facts and documents on record.

Conclusion: The impugned order could not be sustained and the matter was remanded to the adjudicating authority for reconsideration after supplying all relied-upon documents and granting reasonable opportunity of personal hearing.

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