Natural justice in VAT assessment requires disclosure of relied-upon documents and a reasonable hearing before finalising revision

Assessment under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 must comply with natural justice before action under Section 22(4) is finalised. Where the proposed revision relies on invoices and other materials, those relied-upon documents must be supplied to the dealer, objections must be received, and a reasonable personal hearing must be granted. Denial of the materials and hearing was treated as prejudicial and rendered the assessment unsustainable, leading to quashing and remand for fresh consideration after due process.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order passed under the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 was liable to be quashed for want of reasonable opportunity of hearing and non-furnishing of the relied-upon documents.

Analysis: The notice proposed to reject the returns and invoke Section 22(4) of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006, with penalty under Section 22(5) of the same Act. The assessment was completed without supplying the invoices and other materials forming the basis of the pre-revision notice and without affording a personal hearing. Since the statutory scheme required a reasonable opportunity before action under Section 22(4), denial of the requested documents and hearing amounted to violation of natural justice and caused prejudice to the assessee.

Conclusion: The assessment order was quashed and the matter was directed to be reconsidered after supplying the documents, receiving objections, and granting personal hearing.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an assessment is founded on relied-upon documents, the dealer must be furnished those materials and given a reasonable opportunity of hearing before finalising action under Section 22(4) of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006.

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