Section 9D compliance required before relying on retracted statements in clandestine removal demands

Where a demand is founded materially on seized documents and witness statements, section 9D must be complied with before those statements can be used as evidence. The article notes that retracted or disputed statements supporting alleged clandestine removal cannot sustain adjudication unless the relied-upon witnesses are examined and offered for cross-examination in the prescribed manner. Failure to follow that statutory procedure renders reliance on such statements procedurally unfair, and the matter is to be sent back for fresh adjudication with proper witness examination before any final decision is taken.

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Issues: Whether the demand based on seized documents and recorded statements could be sustained without complying with the requirement of examination and cross-examination of witnesses under section 9D, and whether the matter required remand for fresh adjudication.

Analysis: The demand rested primarily on collection books and statements recorded during investigation. Since the proprietor had retracted the statement and the witnesses' statements were relied upon to support the allegation of clandestine removal, the adjudicatory process had to satisfy the requirements of section 9D before such statements could be used in evidence. The provision was treated as mandatory in the circumstances, and the failure to permit examination-in-chief and cross-examination of the relied-upon witnesses rendered the adjudication procedurally unfair.

Conclusion: The demand could not be finally sustained on the existing record, and the matter was required to be remanded for fresh adjudication after compliance with section 9D.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the dispute was sent back for de novo adjudication, with opportunity for witness examination and cross-examination before a fresh decision is taken.

Ratio Decidendi: When a demand depends materially on witness statements that are retracted or disputed, those statements cannot be relied upon unless the statutory procedure for their evidentiary use, including examination and cross-examination, is followed.

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