Principles of Natural Justice not Violated without Bonafide Intention to Produce Documents

Case Details: Debabrata Das v. Additional Commissioner, Central Goods & Service Tax and Central Excise - [2023] 149 taxmann.com 133 (Calcutta)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Amrita Sinha, J.
  • Jagriti Mishra, Subrata Pal, Unus Ali, Subham Gupta, Debayan Goswami & Ms Ananya Bhattacharya for the Petitioner.
  • Ratan Banik, Shankar Sarkar & Bedashruti Bose for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioner was aggrieved by the Order-in-Original passed by the Additional Commissioner and it filed writ petition stating that the said order was passed without giving any reasonable opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.

The department contended that the notice was issued following which reply was submitted after lapse of almost 10 months. It was also contended that multiple opportunities of personal hearing were granted but adjournment was sought on account of non-availability of relevant details and on account of COVID.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that on each and every occasion the petitioner replied to the notices and requested adjournment on account of non-availability of necessary details from his accountant. Thereafter, order-in-original was passed against which no appeal was preferred and after expiry of period to file appeal, the writ petition was filed seeking relief.

The Court observed that there was not any violation of principles of natural justice since adjournments were sought all along but the necessary documents were never produced before the authority either in person or via virtual mode. Thus, it was held that matter was not required to be remanded for reconsideration as conduct of assessee did not appear to be bona fide and there was no violation of principle of nature justice.