Natural justice in FEMA adjudication requires a fresh opinion after withheld documents are supplied and explanation is re-filed.

When four relied-on documents were withheld in adjudication under the Foreign Exchange Management (Adjudication Proceedings and Appeal) Rules, 2000, the denial breached natural justice. After the documents were supplied and a fresh explanation was directed, reconsideration had to be based on the revised explanation and the complete material, not on the earlier opinion already formed under Rule 4. The earlier opinion was treated as non est, and the adjudicating authority was required to form a fresh opinion uninfluenced by its prior view.

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Issues: Whether, after supplying the four withheld documents and granting an opportunity to file a fresh explanation, the adjudicating authority could base its reconsideration on the earlier opinion already formed.

Analysis: The proceedings had reached the stage of formation of opinion under Rule 4 of the Foreign Exchange Management (Adjudication Proceedings and Appeal) Rules, 2000. As the authority had not furnished the four relied-on documents earlier, the denial attracted principles of natural justice. Once those documents were supplied and a fresh explanation was directed to be filed, the reconsideration had to proceed on the basis of the revised explanation and the complete material, without any influence from the earlier opinion already recorded.

Conclusion: The earlier opinion was held to be non est and the adjudicating authority was directed to form a fresh opinion uninfluenced by the earlier one.

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