Assessment order set aside where the assessee's reply was received but ignored, requiring fresh adjudication on merits.

Where the assessee's reply to the notice was shown to have been submitted and received by the department, an assessment order treating the matter as if no objection had been filed could not stand. The court found that the record, including the Letter Delivery Book acknowledgment, contradicted the assumption on which the order proceeded. The impugned assessment was therefore set aside and the matter remanded for fresh adjudication, with direction to consider the assessee's reply and decide the dispute on merits in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the impugned assessment order was liable to be set aside and the matter remanded for fresh adjudication on the ground that the assessee's reply had been received but was not considered.

Analysis: The assessee produced material showing that its reply to the notice had been submitted and received by the department, including acknowledgment in the Letter Delivery Book. The impugned order proceeded on the footing that no objection had been filed. As that assumption was contrary to the record, the order could not stand. The proper course was to set aside the order and direct reconsideration of the matter after taking the reply into account and deciding the dispute on merits in accordance with law.

Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the matter was remanded for fresh adjudication after considering the assessee's reply.

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