Natural justice and promised personal hearing require effective intimation of the hearing date before assessment can stand.

Assessment orders were vitiated for breach of natural justice because the assessee was promised a personal hearing, but no subsequent notice fixed or intimated the hearing date after objections were filed. Although the notices invited objections and the departmental circular required personal hearing to be granted under the TNVAT regime, the opportunity was not effectively provided in the absence of actual hearing intimation. The assessments could not therefore be sustained and were liable to be set aside.

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Issues: Whether the assessment orders were liable to be set aside for violation of the principles of natural justice on the ground that the assessee was not afforded the promised personal hearing.

Analysis: The notices called for objections and indicated that a personal hearing would be afforded if desired, and the departmental circular stated that personal hearing under the TNVAT regime should invariably be granted irrespective of whether it was specifically sought. However, no further notice fixing the date of hearing was issued after the objections were filed. In the absence of intimation of the actual date of hearing, the opportunity held out in the notices was not effectively granted, and the assessments could not be sustained as having complied with natural justice.

Conclusion: The assessment orders were vitiated for breach of natural justice and were liable to be set aside.

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