Natural justice bars an assessing officer from auditing and then assessing the same dealer due to apparent bias.

An assessing officer who had participated in the audit process and issued the foundational letter for the audit visit report could not validly complete the assessment for the same dealer under the Orissa Value Added Tax Act, 2004. Such dual involvement breached natural justice because an officer who helps prepare the audit material cannot later sit in judgment over it, as this creates a risk of bias and undermines impartial adjudication. The assessment was therefore unsustainable, quashed for want of impartiality, and the matter required fresh assessment by an independent, unconnected authority after hearing the dealer.

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Issues: Whether the assessing authority, having been involved in the audit process and having issued the foundational letter on which the audit visit report was prepared, could validly complete the assessment under section 42 of the Orissa Value Added Tax Act, 2004.

Analysis: The audit visit report was prepared on the basis of a letter issued by the very officer who later passed the assessment order. This created a direct involvement of the assessing authority in the audit process. The principle of natural justice requires that no person should act as a judge in his own cause, and an officer involved in the preparation of the audit material should not assess the same dealer, since such participation gives rise to bias and offends the requirement of impartial adjudication.

Conclusion: The assessment made by the officer so involved in the audit process could not be sustained and was liable to be set aside; the matter had to be remanded for fresh assessment by a competent and unconnected authority.

Final Conclusion: The impugned assessment was quashed on the ground of want of impartiality in the assessing process, and the dealer was entitled to a fresh assessment before an independent authority after hearing.

Ratio Decidendi: An officer who participates in the audit process or in the preparation of the audit report in respect of a dealer cannot thereafter function as the assessing authority for that dealer, as such dual violates the principles of natural justice and impartial adjudication.

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