Natural justice in customs adjudication requires supply of relied-upon documents before deciding origin-based duty concession claims.

Non-supply of relied-upon documents and pending verification of the Certificate of Origin justified remand for de novo adjudication. The dispute concerned eligibility of imported gold jewellery from Thailand for concessional duty and the validity of the origin claim. Because the appellant had not been furnished materials cited in the adjudication and the reference outcome from the Thai authority was still relevant, the matter could not be finally decided on the existing record. The Tribunal treated the defect as curable and directed fresh consideration after supply of the documents and receipt of the verification outcome, leaving the merits of duty demand and penalties open.

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Issues: Whether the adjudication required to be set aside and the matter remanded for fresh consideration in view of the non-supply of relied-upon documents and the pending verification of the Certificate of Origin.

Analysis: The dispute concerned the eligibility of gold jewellery imported from Thailand for concessional duty under the relevant notifications and the validity of the origin claim. The Tribunal noted that the appellant asserted non-supply of materials relied upon in the order-in-original, including the overseas reference outcome and certain documents cited for the first time in adjudication. It also noted that the matter could not be finally and fairly decided without making those materials available and without re-examining the issue after receipt of the reference outcome, if any. The Tribunal treated the defect as curable and considered that a fresh adjudication would better serve the interest of a complete factual determination.

Conclusion: The matter was remanded to the Original Authority for de novo adjudication after supplying the relied-upon documents and after making available the outcome of the reference to the designated Thai authority, if received. The appeal was disposed of on those terms.

Final Conclusion: The merits of the duty demand and penalties were left open, and the dispute was sent back for fresh decision after procedural compliance and fuller factual verification.

Ratio Decidendi: Where relied-upon material is not furnished and further factual verification remains material to the decision, the adjudication is liable to be remanded for fresh consideration in accordance with natural justice.

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