Mandatory personal hearing before confiscation or penalty was required; ex parte adjudication without it was set aside and remanded.

Rule 233A of the Central Excise Rules, 1944 required notice and a reasonable opportunity of representation and personal hearing before confiscation or penalty, unless waived. The adjudication was ex parte and no personal hearing was granted, so the mandatory procedural safeguard and principles of natural justice were breached. The confiscation, duty demand and penalty order was therefore unsustainable and was set aside, with the matter remanded for fresh adjudication after granting a reasonable opportunity of hearing.

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Issues: Whether the adjudication order confiscating goods, demanding duty, and imposing penalty could stand when the assessee was not given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in person under Rule 233A of the Central Excise Rules, 1944.

Analysis: Rule 233A makes it mandatory, before confiscation or imposition of penalty, to serve notice and afford a reasonable opportunity of making a representation and of being heard in the matter, unless that right is waived. The record showed that no personal hearing was granted before the ex parte adjudication. In such circumstances, the order was hit by breach of the mandatory procedural safeguard and violation of natural justice.

Conclusion: The impugned adjudication could not be sustained and was set aside; the matter was remanded for fresh adjudication after granting a reasonable opportunity of personal hearing.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory rule mandates a reasonable opportunity of being heard before confiscation or penalty, failure to afford personal hearing vitiates the adjudication unless the right is waived.

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