Prescribed mode of service controls validity of tax notices; e-mail service was treated as invalid.

Where the Andhra Pradesh Value Added Tax Rules, 2005 prescribe specific modes of service, assessment notice must be served only by personal delivery on the nominated person, leaving it at the registered office, or registered post to an office or place of business. Service by e-mail is outside those authorised methods and does not satisfy Rule 64(1)(b). A notice issued through e-mail was therefore invalid and was set aside for non-compliance with the prescribed mode of service.

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Issues: Whether service of the assessment notice by e-mail was valid under Rule 64(1)(b) of the Andhra Pradesh Value Added Tax Rules, 2005, and whether the notice was liable to be set aside for non-compliance with the prescribed mode of service.

Analysis: Rule 64(1)(b) requires service by personal delivery on the nominated person, by leaving it at the registered office, or by registered post to any office or place of business. Service by e-mail does not fall within the prescribed modes. The impugned notice, having been served through e-mail, was contrary to the statutory rule governing service.

Conclusion: The notice served by e-mail was invalid and was rightly set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute prescribes specific modes of service, notice served through a mode not authorised by the is invalid.

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