Refund appeal must be reheard on merits after allowing legible supporting documents to cure evidentiary defects.

Where a refund appeal is rejected because the supporting record is illegible or otherwise inadequate, fairness requires the appellate authority to give the claimant a reasonable opportunity to cure the defect and place complete documents on record. The authority should then reconsider the appeal afresh on merits, rather than decide it on an incomplete or doubtful evidentiary basis. Applying that approach, the petitioner was allowed to produce a legible Bill of Lading and other necessary documents, and the appellate authority was directed to rehear and dispose of the refund appeal within the time specified.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner should be afforded an to produce a legible copy of the Bill of Lading and supporting documents before the appellate authority decides the refund appeal afresh.

Analysis: The appellate authority rejected the refund on the ground that the record did not satisfactorily establish whether the shipping lines involved were foreign or Indian, and relied on the illegibility of the Bill of Lading to doubt the claim. The petitioner expressed readiness to produce a legible copy of the document before the appellate authority. In these facts, fairness required that the petitioner be given an opportunity to place the relevant material so that the appeal could be examined on the basis of complete and legible documents and decided on merits.

Conclusion: The petitioner is entitled to produce a legible Bill of Lading and other necessary documents, and the appellate authority must reconsider the appeal afresh and conclude it within the time directed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a refund appeal is rejected for want of legible or adequate supporting documents, the appellate authority must afford a reasonable opportunity to cure the deficiency and decide the matter afresh on merits.

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