Rajat Dalmia Vs Assistant Commissioner of Revenue & Ors. (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court allowed the writ petition challenging a show cause notice in Form GST DRC-01 dated 27 December 2023 issued under Section 73 of the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, the adjudication order dated 25 April 2024, and the consequential Demand Notice in Form GST DRC-07. The DRC-01 notice required the petitioner to respond within fourteen days but did not specify the date, time or venue of a personal hearing. The petitioner did not respond and later contended that no proper opportunity of hearing had been afforded, relying on Goutam Bhowmik v. State of West Bengal. The State submitted that the adjudication order showed that the petitioner had appeared before the authority and participated in the proceedings.
The High Court observed that where proceedings are initiated through Form GST DRC-01, the petitioner was entitled to a further opportunity of hearing. It found that the columns relating to the date, time and venue of the personal hearing in the notice had been marked “not applicable”, indicating that the authority was not inclined to provide a personal hearing before passing the assessment order. Referring to Goutam Bhowmik v. State of West Bengal, the Court noted that under Sections 73 and 75(4) of the WBGST/CGST Act, 2017, the proper officer is required to afford an opportunity of hearing where a written request is received or where an adverse decision is contemplated, and that an order passed in violation of this statutory requirement cannot be sustained.
