Pecuniary jurisdiction limits control customs adjudication; an order passed beyond delegated authority is void ab initio.

The Assistant Collector lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate a dispute where the duty involved exceeded the monetary limit fixed by the Board's circular. An adjudication made beyond the authority's delegated pecuniary jurisdiction is void ab initio, and any subsequent proceedings based on that void order cannot stand. The matter therefore had to be placed before the competent authority within the proper adjudicatory limit, and the order was treated as a nullity.

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Issues: Whether the Assistant Collector had jurisdiction to adjudicate a case involving duty beyond the monetary limit fixed by the Board's circular, and whether the resulting order and subsequent proceedings were a nullity.

Analysis: The pecuniary limit prescribed by the Board's circular governed the forum competent to adjudicate the dispute. Since the duty involved exceeded the limit applicable to the Assistant Collector, the adjudication was made by an authority lacking jurisdiction. An order passed without jurisdiction is void, and subsequent proceedings founded on such an order cannot survive. The matter therefore had to be placed before the authority within the proper adjudicatory limit.

Conclusion: The Assistant Collector had no jurisdiction to adjudicate the case, the order was void, and the matter was rightly remanded to the competent authority.

Ratio Decidendi: An adjudication made by an authority beyond its delegated pecuniary jurisdiction is void ab initio and cannot sustain further proceedings.

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