TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1986 (9) TMI 240
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.... the same besides a penalty of Rs.1000/- under Section 114 of the Customs Act, 1962, hereinafter referred to as the Act. 2.  The Customs Officers attached to the Customs Preventive Wing, Tuticorin, seized on 31-8-1985 near Alagapuri sea shore, about 8 KMs from Tuticorin, wooden crates of Indian origin on a reasonable belief that they were meant for illicit export to Sri Lanka. The said machineries belong to the appellant. At the time of seizure of the machineries from a hut, one Vellayan was present. Vellayan gave a statement on 31-8-1985 to the effect that the machineries under seizure were brought to the place of seizue few months earlier and concealed in a hut by his relative Murugan and the machineries were kept there for eventu....
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....r of fact visited the appellant's factory during the pendency of adjudication and incorporated the answers alleged to have been given by the appellant to the adjudicating authority in the impugned order and relied upon this circumstance against the appellant. 5.  Since I am disposing of the appeal on a question of law, I do not feel called upon to traverse the various other submissions urged before me on behalf of the appellant. The adjudicating authority under the Customs Act, 1962, is exercising a quasi-judicial power in adjudication matters. In exercise of such quasi judicial power, it is fundamental and elementary that the adjudicating authority should observe the principles of natural justice. In the instant case, I am at a los....
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....r elicited during such visits in a quasi judicial adjudication order would certainly invalidate the very order itself. 6.  I am at this stage usefully refer to the ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Kosam Kumar Singh & Another v. State of Manipur reported in 1986 (25) E.L.T. 145 having a bearing on the issue, wherein the Supreme Court has deprecated the practice of Judges making a local inspection and allowing personal observation in evidence virltually converting himself into a witness as it were. The Supreme Court observed :- "Lastly, the learned Sessions Judge relied on the local inspection made by him. Here, the High Court rightly pointed out that the learned Sessions Judge had committed a serious error of law. Normal....
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....forded an opportunity of being heard. I have therefore, no hesitation to hold that the legal infirmity I have discussed above by reason of the visit of the adjudicating authority to the appellant's premises and making use of what he either saw or the answers which he claims to have elicited from the appellant, all during the pendency of adjudication, would completely vitiate the impugned order appealed against. There is one another aspect of the case to which I should like to make reference in this context. After the completion of investigation, when it culminated in the issuance of show cause notice, the authorities have proceeded on the basis that the machineries under seizure and concerned in this case was all foreign origin. Though the ....