Held - the petitioner has from the very beginning submitted that the impugned notices were pre-meditated and in the light of judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Oryx Fisheries v. Union of India, 2011 (266) ELT 422 (SC), the impugned notice and the consequent impugned orders deserve to be set aside. In that case, the issue before the Hon'ble Supreme Court was whether the show cause notice was issued with a predetermined mind. Reliance is p.....

Held - When the first respondent had issued the show cause notices with pre-judged mind, there is no purpose in issuing show cause notices at all. The first respondent should have taken utmost care to manifestly keep an open mind, as they have to act fairly in adjudging the guilt of the petitioners and especially when he has a power to take punitive steps against the petitioners after giving them a show cause notice.

A reading of the wor.....

Held - It is settled principle of law that a quasi-judicial authority, while acting in exercise of its statutory power must act fairly and must act with an open mind while initiating the show cause proceeding. A show cause notice is meant to give the person proceeded against a reasonable opportunity of making his objection against the proposed charges indicated in the notice. At the stage of show cause notice, the person proceeded against must.....

Held - Mere use of these expressions by the respondent in the show cause notice by itself cannot be a basis to hold that the show cause notice has pre-judged the issue or it is a pre-meditated show cause notice or a foregone conclusion. In fact, the show cause notice runs to 41 pages and most of which are the summary of the statements given by the petitioner and other co-noticees, the material which was recovered the result of the search condu.....

Held - It is of course true that the show cause notice cannot be read hyper-technically and it is well settled that it is to be read reasonably. But one thing is clear that while reading a show-cause notice the person who is subject to it must get an impression that he will get an effective opportunity to rebut the allegations contained in the show cause notice and prove his innocence. If on a reasonable reading of a show-cause notice a person.....