Komal Jayeshbhai Hemavat Vs State Tax Officer (4) & Anr. (Gujarat High Court)
The Gujarat High Court allowed a writ petition challenging an order passed under Section 74 of the Gujarat Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 on the ground that no opportunity of personal hearing had been granted before passing the adverse order.
The petitioner, a registered taxpayer under the GST Act, had faced a raid at its premises during which books of accounts were seized. Thereafter, a show-cause notice dated 21.09.2023 was issued in Form GST DRC-01. The petitioner submitted a reply to the show-cause notice on 21.11.2023. However, the respondent authority passed the impugned order dated 30.12.2023 without granting any personal hearing.
Before the Court, the State relied upon the affidavit-in-reply and submitted that the petitioner, while filing reply in Form DRC-06 for Financial Year 2018-19, had selected “NO” in the column relating to personal hearing. According to the respondent, this was the reason why no personal hearing was granted.
The Court, however, noted the admission made on behalf of the State that three opportunities of personal hearing are envisaged under Section 75(4) of the GST Act and that such opportunities had not been provided to the petitioner.
