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Judgment
We find that a specific plea was raised by the appellant that the proceedings initiated are belated and in support of this submission, had relied upon certain decisions of this Tribunal which has been indicated in paragraph 4 and 5 on page 47 and 48 of the appeal paper book which is part of the impugned order. Inspite of making a specific assertion, the Adjudicating Officer ("AO") has dealt issue-1 in paragraph 12 in a very casual manner without dealing the contention raised by the appellant. Prima facie in our view this amounts to judicial dishonesty.
Let a reply be filed by the respondent which shall be sworn by the AO himself within a week from today. The matter would be taken up on December 23, 2021.
Considering the aforesaid, we stay the effect and operation of the impugned order till further orders of this Tribunal.
Parties are directed to take instructions from the Registrar 48 hours before the date fixed in order to find out as to whether the matter would be taken up for hearing through video conference or through physical hearing.
The present matter was heard through video conference due to Covid-19 pandemic. At this stage it is not possible to sign a copy of this order nor a certified copy of this order could be issued by the Registry. In these circumstances, this order will be digitally signed by the Private Secretary on behalf of the bench and all concerned parties are directed to act on the digitally signed copy of this order. Parties will act on production of a digitally signed copy sent by fax and/or email.