Personal hearing before adverse adjudication is mandatory; denial of hearing breaches natural justice and invalidates the order.

An adverse adjudication order cannot stand where no effective personal hearing is granted before decision, because the opportunity of hearing is mandatory and forms part of natural justice. The notice here contained no date, time or venue for hearing and recorded only "NA", and the revenue admitted the denial of hearing. The Court held that this breach was not cured by the existence of an alternative remedy and set aside the adjudication order.

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Issues: Whether the adjudication order could be sustained when no effective opportunity of personal hearing was granted before passing the adverse order.

Analysis: The challenge was confined to the grant of hearing before the impugned adjudication. The record showed that the notice mentioned no date, time or venue of personal hearing and merely recorded "NA" against those columns. The denial of personal hearing was admitted by the revenue. The Court treated the requirement of granting opportunity of hearing before an adverse adjudication as mandatory and followed its earlier view that such denial amounts to a violation of the principles of natural justice. In those circumstances, the availability of an alternative remedy did not cure the defect.

Conclusion: The impugned adjudication order was unsustainable for breach of the requirement of personal hearing and was set aside in favour of the petitioner.

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