Ex parte tax assessment requires effective service and hearing; e-mail service alone was insufficient, so the demand was quashed and remitted.

An ex parte fiscal assessment should not be sustained where effective opportunity of hearing has not been afforded, unless deliberate avoidance of service is shown. Service by e-mail alone was treated as insufficient on the facts because no physical service had been made as contemplated by the rules, and a casual failure to check e-mail did not justify proceeding ex parte. The assessment scheme was read as requiring prior hearing before assessment, so the ex parte order and consequential demand notice were quashed and the matter remitted for fresh decision after giving the assessee due opportunity of representation.

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Issues: Whether the ex parte assessment order and consequential demand notice were sustainable when the assessee had not been physically served and was denied effective opportunity of hearing.

Analysis: The notice was found to have been served by e-mail, but there was no physical service as contemplated by the rules. The Court held that, unless deliberate evasion of service was established, a casual default in checking e-mail could not by itself justify proceeding ex parte. Section 31 of the Bihar Value Added Tax Act, 2005 was understood as embodying the legislative intent that the assessee should be heard before assessment, and an ex parte order was treated as an exception to that scheme. Applying the principle of substantial justice and the prior course adopted in similar matters, the Court found that the assessment had been completed without adequate opportunity of representation.

Conclusion: The assessment order and the demand notice were quashed, and the matter was remitted to the assessing authority for fresh decision after giving the assessee due opportunity of hearing.

Final Conclusion: The impugned tax demand did not survive, but the assessment was not finally annulled on merits and was sent back for reconsideration in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: An ex parte fiscal assessment should not be sustained where effective opportunity of hearing has not been afforded, unless deliberate avoidance of service is shown, and the assessee's right of representation under the assessment scheme must be respected.

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