2026-VIL-1189-DEL-CU
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CUSTOMS High Court Cases

Customs - Appointment of Common Adjudicating Authority for all Show Cause Notices arising from a single investigation - Petitioner challenged the Notification appointing a Common Adjudicating Authority in respect of only one of three Show Cause Notices issued pursuant to the investigation by the DRI and sought appointment of a single authority for all three - Whether the Petitioner is entitled to a direction for appointment of a Common Adjudicating Authority for all three Show Cause Notices - HELD - The request for common adjudication is not without basis as there is substantial overlap in the material relied upon, but the three Show Cause Notices have distinct subject matters and arise at different stages, one concerning live consignments intercepted at import, another concerning Bills of Entry of cleared consignments under Section 28(4), and the third concerning equipment found at data centres without import documentation. The principle in Star Delta Exim (P) Ltd. recognises the utility of common adjudication to avoid inconsistent findings, but cannot mean that every notice emanating from a common investigation must be adjudicated by one authority irrespective of the allegations and reliefs proposed. Since two of the three notices were subsequently adjudicated while the petition was pending and the validity of that adjudication is itself under challenge, a direction for common adjudication would displace the adjudication already undertaken and serve no useful purpose - The prayer is declined at this stage without expressing any opinion on the merits of the allegations - The writ petition is dismissed - Adjudication of Show Cause Notices during pendency of writ petition and interim order - Respondent adjudicated two Show Cause Notices at New Delhi while the writ petition for a Common Adjudicating Authority was pending, and the Petitioner contended that this violated the interim order which recorded a prima facie view against multiplicity of adjudication and directed adjournment of the personal hearing before the Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai, and that it had brought this order to the notice of the adjudicating authority seeking deferment - Whether adjudication of the two Show Cause Notices was impermissible on account of the pendency of the writ petition and the interim order - HELD - The observations in the interim order were prima facie observations at an interlocutory stage, and the operative direction was confined to adjourning the personal hearing before the Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai, which did not involve the two notices adjudicated at New Delhi. The order did not expressly stay or restrain their adjudication. The communication of the Petitioner seeking deferment was a circumstance requiring consideration but did not amount to an order of the Court restraining the adjudicating authority - The pendency of the writ petition and the interim order did not render the adjudication without jurisdiction - The writ petition is dismissed - Maintainability of writ petition against consolidated Order-in-Original alleging denial of effective opportunity of hearing in presence of alternative remedy under Section 128 - Whether the Court should entertain the challenge under Article 226 notwithstanding the statutory appellate remedy - HELD - The alternative remedy is not an absolute bar - As the impugned order is a consolidated adjudication against several noticees, setting it aside qua individual petitioners would not be appropriate. The principle that a real and effective opportunity of hearing must be afforded remains undisputed, but its application depends on the factual record, and the objection on limitation requires examination of the notice, transactions and material dates - The challenge is not entertained in writ jurisdiction, the Petitioners are at liberty to avail the statutory appellate remedy and urge all objections including limitation, non-consideration of reply and non-service of hearing notices, without any opinion on merits - The writ petitions are dismissed.
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