Natural justice does not require prior notice for administrative transfer of pending excise adjudication before merits are decided.

A statutory transfer of pending excise adjudication from one Collectorate to a centralised authority was upheld as an administrative arrangement made for uniformity and expedition. The court treated the reassignment as not affecting the assessee's liability, because no merits determination or final civil consequence arose from the transfer itself. As the assessee had no vested right to be adjudicated only by a particular Collectorate, the audi alteram partem rule was not attracted at that stage. Prior notice was therefore not required before transferring the cases, and the challenge to the transfer failed.

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Issues: Whether the transfer of excise adjudication proceedings from the Bombay Collectorate to a centralised authority at Delhi without prior notice to the assessee violated the principles of natural justice.

Analysis: The transfer was made under statutory powers enabling the Board to invest a person with the powers of a Central Excise Officer and to assign cases for investigation and adjudication. The transfer was treated as an administrative arrangement intended to secure uniformity and expedition in adjudication of similar cases. Since the assessee had no vested right to be assessed only by a particular Collectorate, and the transfer did not determine the tax liability or finally decide any issue in the show cause proceedings, no civil consequence arose from the administrative re-assignment. The full adjudication on merits was still to follow before the competent authority, so the rule of audi alteram partem was not attracted at that stage.

Conclusion: Prior hearing was not required before transferring the cases, and the challenge to the transfer failed.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was dismissed because the impugned transfer of adjudication proceedings was a valid administrative act made under the Act and the Rules and did not violate natural justice.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory transfer of pending excise adjudication to a centralised authority, made for administrative convenience and before any merits determination, does not attract a prior hearing requirement where it does not itself create civil consequences or decide the assessee's liability.

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