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2017 (9) TMI 700 - ANDHRA PRADESH HIGH COURTPrinciples of Natural Justice - service of order - The claim of the petitioner in the writ petition is that the Order-in-Original was never served on the petitioner and that therefore the petitioner was completely in the dark until a garnishee notice was served on the bank - Held that: - It is too hard to believe that a person who participated in the personal hearing on 24-7-2013 and submitted written arguments on the same date, got into a sense of false security as though no Order-in-Original could have been passed for four years thereafter. The reach of Section 37C cannot be extended to such an extent that unless an acknowledgement card containing the signature of the assessee is produced, the service of the Order- in-Original upon the assessee cannot be treated as completed. Once a registered letter or a speed post is proved to have been submitted at the post office and the necessary registration fee or speed post fee paid therein, a presumption would normally arise that in due course, the said registered letter reached the addressee in 48/72 hours - the burden shifts to the assessee to show that despite the entry in the online tracking system, they did not receive the copy of the order. By producing the printout of the online tracking system, the Revenue has proved in this case that they addressed, pre- paid and posted by registered speed post, the letter containing the Order-in-Original. Once these requirements of Section 27 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, are satisfied, the requirements of Section 37C of the Central Excise Act, 1944, would also stand satisfied - petition dismissed - decided against petitioner.
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