Customs, Excise and Gold Tribunal - Mumbai
Aryan Finefab Ltd, Kantibhai Patel And ... vs Commissioner Of Central Excise, ... on 17 May, 2001
ORDER
Gowri Shankar, Member (Technical)
1. On the date of last hearing, the common counsel for the applicants had contended that the order of the Commissioner was in contravention of the principles of natural justice. He had not considered the request made before him for adjournment of a single hearing.The Commissioner's order records that he heard Premakumar D Rai, director of the appellant.We had, therefore, requested the departmental representative to produce the adjudication records.
2. These have been produced to day. They reveal that on 10.3.2000 Premkumar D Rai, director of the assessee, had handed over written submissions dated 9.3.2000.The very first request in the submission is a request for adjournment on two grounds, that their counsel Mr S.J. Vyas was to appear in the Tribunal at Mumbai on the next day e. e. on 10.3.2000, and that a writ petition with regard to seizure of fabrics from the appellant, connected with the matter before the Commissioner, was pending in the high Court. Thereafter, submissions were made without prejudice to the above.
3. We find to be valid the claim for adjournment on the ground that the party's counsel was to appear before the Tribunal. We agree that appearance before another forum should not be a ground for repeated adjournment, leading to needless delay in the proceedings at any level; In that situation, it would be in order for the adjudicating authority to deny the request. However, this was the first occasion which an adjournment was sought. The Commissioner's order, in fact, has only been passed on 31.3.2000 and issued on 11.4.2000. If he had granted one adjournemt, no loss to the department or delay would have been caused.
4. In these circumstance, we take up the appeals of the manufacture, excise clerk and the director of the manufacturer, allow them and set aside the impugned order. The Commissioner shall, after giving the appellants a reasonable opportunity of being heard, adjudicate on the notice in accordance with law.