Invalid service of show cause notice defeats adjudication where authorities use a former address despite knowing the correct residence

Service of a statutory show cause notice under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act was ineffective where the authority sent it to an old Madras address, despite records showing the noticee had long ceased to reside there and his known permanent address at Keelakarai was available. Affixture at a premises the authority knew, or ought to have known, was not the noticee's residence did not satisfy the requirement of reasonable opportunity before adjudication. The resulting penalty and confiscation orders were therefore vitiated for breach of natural justice and set aside in favour of the noticee.

---

---

Issues: Whether the show cause notice in adjudication proceedings under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act was properly served so as to satisfy the requirement of reasonable opportunity and natural justice.

Analysis: The notice sent by registered post to the Madras address was returned undelivered, and the record showed that the appellant had long ceased to reside there while his known and permanent address at Keelakarai was available to the authorities in several correspondences and proceedings. Service by affixture at an address where the appellant was not residing did not amount to effective service when the authority knew, or ought to have known, that the premises were not his residence. In these circumstances, the statutory requirement of giving a reasonable opportunity before adjudication was not fulfilled, and the subsequent penalty and confiscation orders were rendered unsustainable.

Conclusion: The notice was not properly served, the adjudication was vitiated for breach of natural justice, and the findings and penalty were set aside in favour of the appellant.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the authority knows the noticee's correct or last known residence, service of a statutory show cause notice at a former address by affixture does not constitute valid service or compliance with the requirement of reasonable opportunity before adjudication.

---