Section 9D was treated as a mandatory safeguard for using...

Section 9D was treated as a mandatory safeguard for using investigation statements in adjudication, requiring witness examination, recorded satisfaction for dispensing with it, and an opportunity for cross-examination; the statements were therefore inadmissible. Section 36B was also held to be a complete code for computer-derived records, and the absence of the required certificate and foundational proof made the seized papers and charts inadmissible. As no independent corroborative evidence established clandestine manufacture or removal, the duty demand, interest and equal penalty could not stand and were set aside.

---