Natural justice and exemption notifications must be considered in assessment; writ relief remains available despite alternate remedy.

An assessment made without granting the assessee a hearing or an to place relevant material was held to breach natural justice and vitiate the duty determination. The assessing authority, acting quasi-judicially, was also required to consider exemption notifications and other material directly bearing on the levy; failure to do so constituted error of law and jurisdictional defect. The availability or non-exhaustion of an alternative statutory appeal did not bar writ jurisdiction in these circumstances. The assessment order and consequential demand were therefore liable to be set aside and the matter remitted for fresh consideration of duty liability after taking the relevant notifications into account.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order and consequential demand were liable to be quashed for breach of natural justice and failure to consider relevant exemption notifications, notwithstanding the existence and failure of the statutory appeal remedy.

Analysis: The assessment was made without granting the assessee a hearing before quantifying the duty, even though the assessing authority was acting in a quasi-judicial capacity. The absence of an opportunity to produce relevant material amounted to denial of a fair hearing and breach of the principles of natural justice. The Court also held that relevant exemption notifications and materials bearing directly on the levy had to be considered by the assessing authority, and ignoring them constituted an error of law and failure in the exercise of jurisdiction. In these circumstances, the availability or exhaustion of an alternative remedy did not bar the exercise of writ jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The assessment order could not be sustained and was liable to be set aside, with the matter remitted for fresh consideration of duty liability after taking the relevant notifications into account.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessment made in violation of natural justice and without considering relevant exemption notifications is vitiated by jurisdictional error and may be corrected in writ jurisdiction despite the existence of an alternate remedy.

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