Mandatory personal hearing protects natural justice; an adjudication order issued without it is vitiated and unsustainable.

Failure to fix or provide a mandatory personal hearing before an adjudication order breaches the principles of natural justice. Where the show-cause notice specifies no hearing date and no hearing is afforded, the resulting order is vitiated and cannot be sustained. The text states that a delay objection does not defeat the challenge because the absence of the legally required hearing invalidates the order.

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Issues: Whether an order passed without fixing or providing a personal hearing, as required by law, is sustainable.

Analysis: No date of personal hearing was fixed in the show-cause notice and no hearing was afforded before the adjudication order. The mandatory hearing requirement was thereby breached, resulting in violation of the principles of natural justice. The delay objection was not accepted because the challenged order was vitiated by that breach.

Conclusion: An order made without providing the mandatory opportunity of personal hearing is vitiated and cannot be sustained.

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