Order Passed Without Hearing Assessee to Be Quashed | HC Directed Dept. to Give Another Opportunity to Contest Tax Demand

Case Details: Fashion Enterprises v. State Tax Officer (ST) - [2024] 165 taxmann.com 316 (Madras)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, J.
• M.A. Mudimannan for the Petitioner.
• V. Prashanth Kiran, Govt. Adv. (T) for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

In the present case, the petitioner was aggrieved by the demand order passed by the department and contended that the order was passed without providing reasonable opportunity to contest the tax demand on merits. It was also submitted that the show cause notice and other communications were merely uploaded on the GST portal and not communicated to the petitioner through any other mode.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that the tax demand was confirmed without assessee being heard and it was unaware of proceedings culminating in impugned assessment order and could not participate in same. The Court also noted that the interest of justice warrants that assessee should be provided an opportunity to contest tax demand on merits.

Therefore, it was held that the impugned order was liable to be set aside and the department was directed to provide a reasonable opportunity to the petitioner.