https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=352679 Denial of cross-examination of the panchas, despite a specific request in the reply to the show cause notice, breached natural justice where the case rested on the panchnama. The adjudicating authority also failed to follow Section 9D of the Central Excise Act, 1944 before relying on statements recorded during investigation. As those statements could not be used against the assessee without the statutory procedure and an opportunity to test the evidence, the proceedings were vitiated. Remand for de novo adjudication was therefore justified. en-us Mon, 04 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0530 Sat, 30 Dec 2017 13:07:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=352679 Denial of cross-examination of the panchas, despite a specific request in the reply to the show cause notice, breached natural justice where the case rested on the panchnama. The adjudicating authority also failed to follow Section 9D of the Central Excise Act, 1944 before relying on statements recorded during investigation. As those statements could not be used against the assessee without the statutory procedure and an opportunity to test the evidence, the proceedings were vitiated. Remand for de novo adjudication was therefore justified. Case-Laws Central Excise Mon, 04 Dec 2017 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=352679