TMI Blog2016 (10) TMI 306X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s and copies of the forged invoices to the Government Examiner of Questioned Documents, Directorate of Forensic Sciences, Ministry of Home Affairs for their opinion and report. The report is available to the petitioner, at least after the impugned order. Nothing has been placed on record to suggest that the report of the forensic expert is wrong. In the present case it is not merely the forensic report but the conspectus of the facts and the documents that were taken into consideration by the adjudicating authority. Period of limitation - Held that:- the impugned order finds that, the petitioner is guilty of suppressing documents during investigation and evasion of payment of appropriate duty on excisable goods. Nothing in Section 11A o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... adjudication process were not given to the petitioners in spite of requests thereof. He has referred to an order passed in the earlier writ petition filed by the petitioner where certain directions were issued by the Writ Court with regard to the documents concerned. He has referred to the impugned order where the adjudicating authority has relied upon the evidences given by co-accused. He has submitted that such deponent was not allowed to be cross-examined. He has relied upon 2015 (322) E.L.T. 462 (Cal.) (Soumendu Saha vs. Union of India), All India Reporter 1952 SC 159 (Kashmira Singh vs. State of Madhya Pradesh) and (2008) 16 Supreme Court Cases 537 (Vinod Solanki vs. Union of India Anr.) in support of his contentions. Learned sen ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pugned order by a letter dated January 29, 2008. Such letter contains the statement that the impugned order is appealable. Despite a statutory appeal being available to the petitioner, it has chosen to move the writ jurisdiction. A Writ Court is not an appellate authority. A Writ Court is not called upon to reappraise the entire evidence to come to a finding of validity or lack of its impugned order. The scope of enquiry of a Writ Court with regard to a decision rendered by an authority acting under a statute particularly when there is a statutory appeal available, is very restricted. It has been judicially noticed that a writ, in spite of availability of an alternative remedy is maintainable, where there is a violation of the principles ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re not available in law. Therefore it would not lie in the mouth of the petitioner to contend that, the documents sought to be relied upon were not made over to the petitioner and therefore there is a breach of principles of natural justice. The petitioners were informed of the time and location of such documents. Despite such information, the petitioner did not take steps to have such documents produced. The other area of the breach of principles of natural justice is that, the adjudicating authority has placed reliance on the evidence of the co-accused. Kashmira Singh (supra) has dealt with a conviction in a murder case. It has held that, a co-accused who confesses is naturally an accomplice and the danger of using the testimony of one ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ember, 1995. The impugned order narrates how the evasion was detected. The detection of the evasion and the findings with regard thereto have not been dislodged by the petitioner in the present petition. In any event, the petitioner had chosen not to file an appeal against the order. The Appellate Authority was better equipped to look into the evidence produced before the adjudicating authority to appreciate the evidence led before the adjudicating authority. In Soumendu Saha (supra) it has been held, that when the prosecutor had furnished a report from an expert and did not make over the copy of the same to the assessee, it visits the proceeding with procedural illegality. In the present case the forensic report is discussed in page 603 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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