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2015 (9) TMI 402 - HC - CustomsLevy of Anti-dumping Duty on USB Flash Drives - validity of investigation and findings of the Designated Authority (DA) - Sub section (5) of Section 9A of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 - It is contended by the petitioner that the non-supply of the data/evidence relied upon by the Designated Authority violated the principles of natural justice and curtailed the rights of the petitioner to defend/oppose the imposition of the Anti-Dumping Duty and also amounted to a denial of an opportunity to effectively participate in the investigation - Held that:- In the present case, the Designated Authority has disregarded the transaction-by-transaction import statistics submitted by the domestic industry alongwith the application seeking initiation and introduced fresh data and relied on the transactions-by-transactions imports statistics obtained by him from the respondent No.4 at the very fag end of the investigation. The data was introduced after a period of seventeen months of initiation of investigation. Neither the copy of the said data relied upon by the Designated Authority nor the non confidential summary thereof was not supplied to the petitioners despite the same being demanded on the ground of confidentiality. The DA, in not providing the information/material considered by him, has violated the principles of natural justice and the same is fatal to the Final Findings rendered. Consequently, the Final Findings, having been rendered in violation of the principles of natural justice, stand vitiated and cannot be sustained. As a result, the impugned Final Findings are quashed. - Decided in favor of appellants. There is no merit in the contention of the respondent that since, the Final Finding are only recommendatory in nature, the petition is premature. It is no longer res-integra that this court in exercise of powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is empowered to entertain a petition challenging the Final Findings even prior to the same being accepted by the central government more so in a case where the principles of natural justice have not been complied with. The fact that the Rules prescribe that if the Designated Authority is satisfied that the request for confidentiality is not warranted or the supplier of the information is either unwilling to make the information public or to authorize its disclosure in a generalized or summary form, it may disregard such information, further emphasises the fact that for an investigation to comply with the principles of natural justice, it mandatorily entails sharing with the interested parties, the information/data being considered by the Designated Authority.
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