Patna HC quashes order quantifying GST, Interest, and Penalty as no fair opportunity of hearing was accorded

Patna High Court - GST - Penalty - Taxscan

The Patna High Court quashed the order quantifying GST, interest, and penalty as no fair opportunity of hearing was accorded.

The petitioner, Rambabu Singh has assailed the order passed by the respondent authority quantifying tax, interest, and penalty amounting to र 8,39,164 under the BGST Act for the period April 2019 to September 2019 in Form GST DRC-07 without passing a speaking order.

The division bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S. Kumar opined that the order is bad in law on the grounds of violation of principles of natural justice, i.e. Fair opportunity of hearing and no sufficient time was afforded to the petitioner to represent his case; order passed ex parte in nature, does not assign any sufficient reasons even decipherable from the record, as to how the officer could determine the amount due and payable by the assessee. The order, ex parte in nature, passed in violation of the principles of natural justice, entails civil consequences.

The court while quashing the order directed the de-freezing or de-attaching of the bank account(s) of the writ-petitioner if attached in reference to the proceedings, subject matter of the present petition. This shall be done immediately.

“This deposit shall be without prejudice to the respective rights and contention of the parties and subject to the order passed by the Assessing Officer. However, if it is ultimately found that the petitioner’s deposit is in excess, the same shall be refunded within two months from the date of passing of the order,” the court said.

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