Failure to Serve Notice for Personal Hearing invalidates the Order Confirming Demand u/s 73(2) of the Finance Act: Telangana HC [Read Order]
Notice – Personal Hearing – Order – Demand – Finance Act – Telangana High Court – taxscan
Notice – Personal Hearing – Order – Demand – Finance Act – Telangana High Court – taxscan
The Telangana High Court has held that failure to serve notice for a personal hearing invalidates the order confirming demand under Section 73(2) of the Finance Act, 1994.
The petitioner challenged the legality and validity of the order-in-original dated 02.11.2022 passed by the 1st respondent confirming the demand of Rs.2,82,51,323.00 in terms of Section 73(2) of the Finance Act, 1994 besides confirming levy of interest and imposition of penalty under different provisions of the Finance Act, 1994.
The petitioner is a special class contractor engaged in the business of executing road construction works of Government Departments who is a service provider and registered as such under the Finance Act, of 1994. Show cause notice dated 18.10.2021 was issued to the petitioner by the 1st respondent alleging non-payment of service tax by the petitioner on the taxable services provided for the period 2016-17 and 2017-18 (up to June 2017).
It was stated that the show cause notice was e-mailed to the petitioner, to which the petitioner sought time to file a reply on 18.11.2021. It was contended that after 18.11.2021, the petitioner did not receive any intimation from the 1st respondent including the notice for a personal hearing.
The respondent contended that notice of a personal hearing was given to the petitioner at the address mentioned by him in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) record on 26.05.2022. It was stated that when sent by registered post, the notice was returned unserved since the petitioner did not inform the office of respondent No.1 about a change of address.
The Coram comprising Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji observed that notice was not served upon the petitioner and the court could not understand why the notice for personal hearing was sent by registered post when the show cause notice was sent through e-mail. In light of the discussion, the Court set aside the Order-in-original dated 02.11.2022 passed by the 1st respondent and stated that the Petitioner shall file a reply thereto within a period of four weeks from the date of the order.
To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE
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