Under GST Act Section 75(4), before passing an adverse order, the proper officer must intimate the assessee the specific date, time, and venue of personal hearing; failure violates natural justice.

ORAL JUDGMENT

(PER : HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.S. SUPEHIA)

1. RULE. Learned AGP Ms.Shrunjal Shah waives service of notice of rule on behalf of the respondents.

2. A short issue is involved in the writ petition and therefore, the same is taken up for final disposal.

3. Learned advocate Mr.Priyank Lodha appearing for the petitioner, at the outset, while referring to the provision of Section 75(4) of the Gujarat Goods and Service Tax Act 2017, has submitted that after issuance of notice in the Form GST DRC 01, the respondent-officer did not intimate the date, place and time of personal hearing and had passed the impugned Order-in-Original dated 28.08.2024, and hence is required to be quashed and set aside along with subsequent order passed by the appellate authority dated 06.03.2025. While pointing out documents on record, more particularly, DRC 01 (Pages 31 – 32), it is submitted that details about personal hearing i.e. date, time and venue are required to be specified by the respondents in the portal which they did not specify , hence the petitioner was unable to upload necessary documents and was also unable to provide explanation to the show cause notice. Thus, it is submitted that for want of details as mentioned in DRC 01, there is gross violation of principles of natural justice and no personal hearing was given by the Adjudicating Authority while passing the Order-in-Original.

4. It is urged that if the writ petition is allowed on the short ground, other contentions which are raised in the writ petition may be kept open and the respondent authorities may be directed to consider the same while giving an opportunity of personal hearing.

5. In response to the aforesaid submissions, learned AGP Ms.Shrunjal Shah, at the outset, while pointing out the screenshot of the portal and also the notings, has submitted that in fact, despite having granted sufficient opportunity to the petitioner on three occasions, the petitioner did not come forward for submitting the supporting documents and was also demanding personal hearing by intimating the date of personal hearing, hence, the authorities were constrained to pass the orders.

6. She has submitted that in fact, once the proceedings are notified in the portal, the assessee has to verify subsequent dates as well as the notings and the respondent Assessing Officer is not required to issue separate Show Cause Notice intimating the date of personal hearing. Thus, it is urged that the writ petition may not be entertained.

7. We have heard learned advocates for the respective parties. The aforementioned facts establish the fact about the issuance of notice under DRC 01 to the petitioner on 21.5.2024 which is not in dispute. We have perused the contents of Show Cause Notice in the format of DRC 01 and the details of the proceedings which are to be filled in are incorporated as under.

Details of personal hearing and due date to file reply.

Thus, the respondents while issuing the notice GST DRC 01 in fact have incorporated the aforesaid details of personal hearing which are required to be intimated which includes the date by which the reply has to be submitted i.e. 21.6.2024, date of personal hearing, time of personal hearing and venue where personal hearing will be held. Except the date of reply, the details of other three heads are missing.

8. It appears that thereafter on the portal, the status of proceedings was intimated and screenshot of the portal reflects about the details of show cause notice of DRC 01, reminder issued on 03.07.2024 and adjournment was on 24.08.2024 and time to file reply was 27.08.2024. Along with the aforesaid details in the portal, the note was also displayed which is as under.

“You have not submitted detailed reply and supporting documents if you want to submit documents or want personal hearing you