Star Medical Stor Vs Assistant Commissioner State Goods & Service Tax (Uttarakhand High Court)
The petitioner challenged a show cause notice dated 22.05.2024 issued under Section 73 of the GST Act, 2017, and the consequential assessment order and Form DRC-07 dated 21.08.2024. The primary contention was that the date fixed for personal hearing was scheduled before the last date available for filing a reply to the show cause notice, making the procedure adopted illegal and contrary to the principles of natural justice.
The petitioner relied on an earlier decision of the Court to support its contention. The Revenue fairly conceded that the personal hearing had been fixed 18 days before the last date prescribed for filing the reply and that the hearing offered was therefore illusory and not in conformity with the prescribed procedure.
Considering this position, the High Court held that the procedure followed was defective. Consequently, the assessment order was quashed. The Court remitted the matter back to the Adjudicating Officer with a direction to proceed afresh from the stage of the show cause notice after fixing a date for personal hearing. The writ petition was accordingly disposed of, and all pending applications were also disposed of.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF UTTARAKHAND HIGH COURT
