Natural justice breached where corrigendum and adjudication order were served together, requiring remand for fresh hearing.

An adjudication order was vitiated where a corrigendum invoking Sections 11AB and 11AC of the Central Excise Act was served on the assessee only with the order itself, because the noticee had no meaningful opportunity to respond to the corrigendum. The authority's reliance on an alleged failure to reply within time was inconsistent with natural justice. The impugned order was set aside and the matter remanded for fresh adjudication after hearing the appellants.

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Issues: Whether the adjudication order was vitiated for breach of natural justice because the corrigendum to the show cause notice and the adjudication order were served on the assessee on the same day, and whether the matter should be remanded for fresh adjudication.

Analysis: The corrigendum invoking Section 11AB and Section 11AC of the Central Excise Act, 1944 was received by the appellants only along with the adjudication order, while the order proceeded on the basis that the noticee had failed to reply to the corrigendum within the time granted. This deprived the appellants of a meaningful opportunity of hearing on the corrigendum and showed non-observance of the very principles of natural justice relied upon in the order itself.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded to the Commissioner for readjudication after hearing the appellants.

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