GST Reply and Personal Hearing Scheduled on Same Day: Allahabad HC Orders to Pass Fresh Order [Read Order]

The Allahabad High Court has set aside an order imposing penalty under the CGST/SGST Act after finding that the date fixed for submitting a reply and the date for personal hearing were the same, depriving the petitioner of a fair opportunity to present their case.

The Court has remanded the matter back to the authorities for a fresh decision, with directions to provide a proper opportunity of hearing.

The matter came up by M/s Kahna Bartan Bhandar through its proprietor Pranshul Tiwari. The petitioner had challenged the penalty order dated 20.09.2024, passed under Section 125 of the CGST/SGST Act, which imposed a fine of ₹50,000. The petitioner also contested the subsequent appellate order dated 05.04.2025, which had upheld the penalty.

Appearing for the petitioner, counsel argued that the show cause notice in question was procedurally flawed as it had fixed the same date 17.09.2024 for both the filing of the reply and the personal hearing. It was contended that this amounted to a denial of reasonable opportunity and violated principles of natural justice.

The single-judge bench of Justice Manjive Shukla agreed with the petitioner’s contention. Referring to precedents on the matter, the Court observed that it is a well-established legal position that sufficient time must be granted between the deadline for submitting a reply and the date of the personal hearing.

The Court noted that this procedural requirement had not been met, and therefore the orders suffered from a serious procedural irregularity.

“It is apparent that the petitioner has not been given proper opportunity of hearing,” the Court observed, adding that the same-day scheduling undermined the fairness of the adjudication process.

The High Court quashed both the penalty order and the appellate order. It remanded the matter back to the assessing authority with a direction to pass a fresh order in accordance with law, after giving the petitioner adequate opportunity to file a reply and be heard.

Manas Shukla, Anurag Srivastava, Ashish Kumar Tripathi appeared for the petitioners.

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