The High Court (HC) Madras held that the assessment order passed with out a personal hearing of the assessee is not valid.
Novateur Electrical & Digital Systems Pvt. Ltd, the petitioner has challenged the respective impugned assessment orders on the ground that no personal hearing was afforded to the petitioner before the passing of the respective impugned assessment orders.
It was evident that the date of dispatch of the impugned assessment orders by the respondent is disclosed as 27.01.2023, though the assessment order is dated 29.10.2019. Therefore, the statement of the petitioner that they had received the assessment orders dated 29.10.2019 only on 30.01.2023 was true.
Notice’ is the starting point of any hearing. Unless a person knows the formulation of subjects and issues involved in the case, he/she cannot defend himself/herself. It is not enough that the notice in a case is given, but it must be adequate also. The adequacy of notice is a relative term and must be decided concerning each case.
A Single member comprising of Justice Abdul Quddhose observed that since no proper show cause notice has been sent to the petitioner, the impugned assessment order in the said writ petition is treated as a Show Cause Notice and the petitioner is permitted to send a reply to the same which will have to be considered by the respondent while passing the final orders.
The Court quashed the impugned assessment orders dated 29.10.2019 passed by the first respondent and remanded the matter back to the first respondent for fresh consideration bythe law.
The first respondent is directed to pass final orders within a period of twelve weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order, after adhering to the principles of natural justice including granting the right of personal hearing to the petitioner.
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