Fair hearing required before rejecting concessional duty claim on a new ground; order set aside and remanded.

An appellate authority cannot reject a claim on a new ground without giving the importer a fair opportunity to meet it. Here, the rejection of concessional duty under Notification No. 49/78-Cus. rested on lack of readout accuracy, a basis not used by the original authority, and the importers were not heard on that issue. The order also failed to clearly address the earlier finding that the machine could perform the relevant functions only with optional accessories. The order was set aside and the matter remanded for de novo consideration after a proper hearing.

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Issues: Whether the order of the appellate authority rejecting the claim for concessional duty under Notification No. 49/78-Cus. could stand when it introduced a new ground without giving the importers an opportunity to meet it.

Analysis: The rejection before the appellate authority proceeded on a ground different from the one adopted by the original authority, namely that the machine lacked the readout accuracy necessary for the functions specified in the notification. This ground had not been the basis of the earlier proceedings, and the importers were not afforded an opportunity to explain or rebut it. The order also did not clearly answer the original finding that the machine could perform the relevant functions only with optional accessories. In these circumstances, the matter required reconsideration after a fair hearing.

Conclusion: The order was set aside and the matter was remanded for de novo consideration, with an opportunity to the importers to meet the grounds raised against them.

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