Natural justice applies to reassessment permission where accrued rights are affected, requiring prior notice and hearing before sanction.

Prior notice and an opportunity of hearing are implied before permission for reassessment is granted where the dealer has an accrued right after completion of assessment and expiry of the reassessment period. The High Court held that section 21(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act did not expressly exclude fairness, so the Commissioner was bound to issue a show cause notice or otherwise hear the dealer before according sanction. Because no notice was given before the permission order, the order was vitiated for breach of natural justice and could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether permission for reassessment under section 21(2) of the U.P. Trade Tax Act, 1948 could be granted without affording notice or opportunity of hearing to the dealer, and whether the order granting such permission was vitiated for breach of natural justice.

Analysis: The assessment for the relevant year had already been completed and the statutory period for reassessment had expired, giving the dealer a valuable accrued right. The Court held that, although section 21(2) did not expressly require prior notice before the Commissioner accorded permission, the requirement of fairness was inbuilt in the provision unless expressly excluded. In such a situation, the Commissioner was obliged to issue a show cause notice or otherwise afford an opportunity before granting permission for reassessment. As no notice was given before the impugned order was passed, the order could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The permission granted for reassessment without prior opportunity of hearing was invalid and was rightly quashed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where statutory sanction for reassessment affects an accrued right, prior notice and opportunity of hearing are implied by the principles of natural justice unless expressly excluded by the statute.

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