HC Set Aside the Order as the Right to Fair Hearing Was Compromised Where SCN Was Not Uploaded

Case Details: Khanna Polyrib (P.) Ltd. v. State of U.P. - [2024] 160 taxmann.com 456 (Allahabad)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Surendra Singh & S. D. Singh, JJ.
  • Shubham Agrawal for the Petitioner.
  • C.S.C. for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

In the present case, the department issued a notice imposing penalty on the petitioner but the dashboard on the portal operated by the petitioner only disclosed reference number, issue date, due date to reply, requirement of personal hearing, section description under which notice was issued but file was not attached. It filed writ petition against the order levying penalty since the portal did not contain the notice that was necessary to be attached.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that due to inadvertent error, the notice remained to be uploaded by way of attachment. It is beyond doubt that the petitioner had a perfect right to object to the show cause notice and he had a near perfect right to personal hearing.

Also, the perusal of the print out of the dashboard display clearly indicated that the GST authority also did not seek to deny such right to the petitioner. However, owing to such inadvertent error, right of petitioner to object to the notice and his right to hearing was completely compromised. Therefore, the Court held that impugned order to be set aside with liberty to GST authority to proceed in accordance with law.