Material reply received before despatch must be considered before adjudication; order set aside and remitted.

An adjournment request signed by a different customs house agent was not treated as valid because no material showed that the agent was duly authorised at the relevant time. However, a belated reply to the show cause notice, though filed late, had been received in the Commissioner's office before despatch of the adjudication order and raised a material contention on the core dispute; it should have been considered before final decision. The adjudication order was therefore set aside and the matter remitted for fresh adjudication after taking the reply into account.

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Issues: (i) Whether the Commissioner erred in proceeding with adjudication despite the appellant's request for adjournment; (ii) whether the adjudication order was liable to be set aside because the appellant's reply to the show cause notice had been received before despatch of the order and contained material relevant to the dispute.

Issue (i): Whether the Commissioner erred in proceeding with adjudication despite the appellant's request for adjournment.

Analysis: The adjournment request was signed by a different customs house agent, and there was no material to show that it was the duly authorised agent for the appellant at the relevant time.

Conclusion: The Commissioner did not commit any error in declining to treat the adjournment request as valid.

Issue (ii): Whether the adjudication order was liable to be set aside because the appellant's reply to the show cause notice had been received before despatch of the order and contained material relevant to the dispute.

Analysis: Although the reply was filed belatedly, it had been received in the Commissioner's office several months before the order was despatched and raised a material contention bearing on the crucial issue. The reply ought to have been taken into account before the final order was issued.

Conclusion: The order was set aside and the matter was remitted for fresh adjudication after considering the appellant's reply.

Final Conclusion: The appellant succeeded in getting the adjudication annulled and the dispute sent back for decision in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: A material reply to a show cause notice received before the despatch of the adjudication order must be considered before final decision, failing which the order cannot stand.

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