Natural justice bars debarment without notice or hearing where employees were not parties to the proceedings.

Permanently debarring employees from transacting business at a Customs station without a show cause notice or hearing was held to offend natural justice. The proceedings were directed primarily against the Custom House Agent firm under the Custom House Agents Licensing Regulations, 1984, and those regulations did not contemplate the form of debarment imposed on the appellants. Because the appellants were not parties to the proceedings and no notice proposed action against them, the debarment exceeded the scope of the proceedings and was invalid. The impugned order was therefore set aside.

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Issues: Whether the order permanently debarring the appellants from transacting business in the Customs station, passed without issuing show cause notice or affording hearing to them, could stand.

Analysis: The proceedings were primarily against the Customs House Agent firm under the Custom House Agents Licensing Regulations, 1984. The regulations did not contemplate debarment of employees in the manner ordered, and the appellants were neither parties to the proceedings nor given notice proposing action against them. The impugned debarment, therefore, lay outside the scope of the proceedings and offended the principles of natural justice.

Conclusion: The debarment of the appellants was invalid and was set aside.

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