The Calcutta High Court recently directed that a proper adjudicating authority shall mandatorily provide an opportunity of hearing to an Assessee as per the provisions of Section 75(4) of the West Bengal Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (WBGST Act) and the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017 (CGST Act), when an adverse decision against the Assessee is being contemplated by the Assessee.
The decision was rendered by the Calcutta High Court while hearing an Appellate Writ Petition filed by the Petitioner-Assessee Soumyendu Bikash Jana, against the Union of India and Others.
The Petitioner referred to a summary of show-cause notice served to him in FORM GST DRC-01, with a note “N.A.” in the column pertaining to personal hearing, completely discrediting the Assessee of an opportunity of personal hearing.
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Himangshu Kumar Ray, Subhasis Podder, Sushant Bagaria and Subal Saha, appearing for the Petitioner relied on a judgment of a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court in Goutam Bhowmik vs. State of West Bengal (2024) wherein the High Court observed the mandatory nature of Section 75(4) of the GST Act to provide an opportunity of hearing to the Petitioner/Assessee.
Perusing the provisions of Section 75 of the GST Act, the Single-Judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court presided over by Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj observed that an person against whom an adverse decision is contemplated by the Revenue should mandatorily be afforded an opportunity of personal hearing prior to passing of any adverse order.
The Bench further laid down that such an opportunity of healing is a statutory mandate, should be provided to the Assessee regardless of whether the Assessee had specifically requested for it or not.
Complete Supreme Court Judgment on GST from 2017 to 2024 with Free E-Book Access, Click here
While allowing the Writ Petition, the Calcutta High Court further clarified that failure on behalf of the adjudicating authority to provide opportunity of hearing would render any consequent order unsustainable and liable to be quashed.
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