TMI Blog2014 (3) TMI 279X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... om the jurisdictional authority on record on 7-11-2011. There is no action by the Revenue on the said direction of the Tribunal and surprisingly no report stand filed by them. Even when the appellant was granted unconditional stay subsequently on the above ground, Revenue did not make any efforts to supply the said documents. In fact even till date the same do not stand supplied. Adamant stand of the Revenue not to supply the non-relied documents to the assessee, which stand seized from their premises and admittedly belonged to them and are required by them for taking a proper defence, result in such type of mess and may result in losing of the case of the Revenue which otherwise may be a good case for them. According to the basic princ ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nds and imposing penalties. The said order was set aside by the Commissioner (Appeals) remanding the matter to the original adjudicating authority with directions to supply all the relied upon documents as also non-relied documents. In his said order dated 31-5-2007, Commissioner (Appeals) directed as - 9.22 Thus it is evident that the order has been passed in violation of the principles of natural justice. In the case of appellant number 1 the non-relied upon documents were consciously not returned, while for appellant number 2 it is disputed that a reply was submitted. The principles of natural justice must be complied with which include proper consideration of the request for documents and the reply should be taken on record. Further, ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... shall be construed that the appellant has abused the process of law for which appeal shall be dismissed. Learned CDR is requested to expedite the matter so that appellant shall not be deprived of justice. 5. In spite of above direction of the Tribunal, non-relied upon documents were not given to the assessee and no report stand filed by the Revenue as directed by the Tribunal. Thereafter the matter came up before the Tribunal for the purpose of stay petition and vide its Stay Order No. 775-777/2011-SM(BR) dated 8-11-2011, the Tribunal again took note of the appellants submission of non-supply of documents in spite of repeated efforts made by them vide their letter dated 21-9-2011 and 13-10-2011. Tribunal also took note of the fact that ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... on. No purpose is going to be served by keeping such records in the Revenue s custody, especially when the assessee demands for the same for his proper defence. In the present case, the appellants had, after the issuance of show cause notice made a request to the adjudicating officer to return the said documents so as to enable him to prepare a proper defence reply. Whether such documents are required by the assessee or not, may be left to the assessee and the non supply of such documents on the ground that they may not be required by the assessee, is not the job of adjudicating officer. 8. Not only that when the matter travelled up to Commissioner (Appeals) in the first round of litigation, he took note of the said grievance of the appel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 006, the non-availability of the documents in the year 2013 would not have been there. Not only that when the Commissioner (Appeals) remanded the matter in the year 2007, the department did not still bother to provide the documents to the assessee. As such, the departments stand taken in the year 2013 that the said documents are not easily traceable as the Inspector who handled the same stand retired, cannot be appreciated. With the retirement of the Inspector or any of the officers of the department, the working of the department does not come to a stand still and it would still be possible for the Revenue to trace such documents and supply the same to the assessee. 10. It may not be out of place to mention here that the adamant stand of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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