Cross-examination in excise duty proceedings is required when witness statements are relied on for a fresh decision.

In excise duty proceedings, where the authority proposed to rely on witness statements concerning the use of waste in spinning yarn, fair adjudication required that the assessee be given an opportunity to cross-examine those witnesses if their statements were to be used in the fresh decision. The Court accepted the assessee's contention and remitted the matter with a direction that cross-examination be permitted before any reliance was placed on those statements.

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Issues: Whether the appellant was entitled to cross-examine the witnesses whose statements were relied upon for the levy of excise duty.

Analysis: The dispute concerned the characterization of the goods and the levy of excise duty based on statements of persons said to have used the waste for spinning yarn. The refusal of cross-examination was challenged as affecting fair adjudication. The Court held that if the authority intended to rely on such statements when deciding the matter afresh, the appellant had to be given an opportunity to cross-examine those witnesses.

Conclusion: The appellant's contention was accepted, and the matter was remitted with a direction that cross-examination be allowed if reliance was placed on those statements in the fresh decision.

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