Case Law Details
Sahibabad Printers Vs Additional Commissioner CGST (Appeals) And Others (Allahabad High Court)
Counsel for the petitioner argues that as the show cause notice was silent, the petitioner could not have been expected to give any reply and further questioning the appellate order he argues that the appellate authority was wrong in recording that no document has been produced, as the application of the petitioner for refund in Form RFD-01 was well with the department.
Sri B.K.S. Raghuvanshi, counsel for the respondent on the other hand has tried to justify the order by saying that once the petitioner had not filed the refund documents, the department was bound to reject the refund claim of the petitioner and the same has been rightly rejected. He has further justified the appellate order by arguing that no error can be found out in the order passed by the appellate authority.
Considering the rival submissions made at the Bar and the judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, I have no hesitation in holding that in quasi judicial proceedings that too relating to financial adjudication, the proposed reasons for rejection should be specifically contained and informed to the assessee so as to enable him to give his reply in a conclusive and reasonable manner. The perusal of the show cause notice in the present case fall short of all the known principles of natural justice and no prudent man could have given reply to the kind of show cause notice, which was served upon the petitioner. For the sole reason that the order rejecting the claim is based upon a silent show cause notice, I have no hesitation in holding that the principles of natural justice have been violated while adjudication of refund claim of the petitioner.
Accordingly, the order dated 07.04.2020 as well as the appellate order dated 14.09.2020 are set aside. The respondent no. 2 is directed to passed a fresh order on the application of the petitioner, for refund, already filed by the petitioner under Form RFD-01, after supplying all the requisite documents and the ground on which the department proposes to reject the application and after giving an adequate opportunity of hearing to the petitioner in accordance with law. The said application shall be decided as expeditiously, if possible, preferably within a period of three months from the date of filing of the copy of this order.
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