Mandatory personal hearing under VAT reassessment law vitiates the order when denied despite a specific request.

Where the Tamil Nadu VAT Act requires a reasonable opportunity of being heard before reassessment, failure to grant a requested personal hearing vitiates the assessment. The record did not show compliance with the mandatory hearing requirement, and the availability of an appellate remedy did not cure the breach because violation of natural justice remains an exception to the alternate-remedy rule. The reassessment orders were therefore unsustainable and were set aside, with the matter remanded to the assessing authority for fresh consideration after granting personal hearing.

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Issues: Whether the reassessment orders were liable to be set aside for failure to grant the assessee a personal hearing as required by Section 22(4) of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006.

Analysis: The statutory proviso required the dealer to be given a reasonable opportunity of being heard before action was taken. The assessment record did not show compliance with this mandatory requirement. The existence of an appellate remedy did not cure the violation, since breach of natural justice was a recognised exception to the rule of alternate remedy. The earlier decisions relied upon had held that when personal hearing is sought and the statute contemplates it, the assessment order cannot be sustained without such hearing.

Conclusion: The assessment orders were unsustainable for want of personal hearing and were set aside. The matter was remanded to the assessing authority for fresh consideration after granting personal hearing.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute mandates a reasonable opportunity of being heard and the assessee seeks personal hearing, an assessment passed without such hearing is vitiated and may be set aside notwithstanding the availability of an alternate appellate remedy.

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