Personal Hearing - A Big Farce
THE other day, a client wanted me to attend a personal hearing before an adjudication authority of the Central Excise Department. I told him, “it's a waste of time; you can send your clerk or peon and ask him to reiterate the submissions made in the reply to the Show Cause Notice.”
The Client was not impressed and he along with another lawyer appeared for the personal hearing. After a harrowing experience, he cursed himself for not following my advice.
He explained his experience to me:
At the appointed time, we went to the office of the adjudicating authority and we were told that Sir has gone for lunch and not yet returned. We waited patiently – there was no place for us to sit outside his office – the few chairs on the verandah were occupied by important looking sepoys , one of whom was awfully drunk and asked us for money. He was rude to us when we refused to pay him. We were told that drinking while on duty is not a trait with junior employees but even some of the senior officers who are adjudicating officers are drunk while on duty and it is no secret.
After more than an hour, we are ushered into the chambers of the adjudicating authority. He is surrounded by half a dozen officers all with urgent files and he is giving directions to all of them. He gets a few telephone calls and answers all of them leisurely. During all this he asked us a few times, “yes, tell me”, but unfortunately had no time or mood to listen to us. Twice he was called by his boss and he went out and came in after about thirty minutes. Not even once he mentioned to his boss or the telephone callers that he had a personal hearing and the party was before him. After more than two hours, he tells us, “okay you have anything new to submit other than what you have already mentioned in the reply?”. Then he calls his steno and tells us, “you dictate to her whatever you want to say; I will just come back; okay?”
Even Supreme Court Judges do not enjoy this kind of privilege; once they come to the court, they have to sit there!
Why can't Departmental officers ensure that a particular time is slotted for personal hearing and during that time they are not disturbed by subordinates or superiors? Adjudication should not only be done but seem to be done!