Mandatory personal hearing after pre-assessment notice required; assessment set aside for procedural breach.

The Madras HC held that an assessment order cannot be sustained where, despite non-filing of objections to a pre-assessment notice, the assessee was not afforded a personal hearing. The court treated advance communication of the hearing date as part of the mandatory procedure and noted that the impugned order contained no reference to such hearing. It applied the principle that failure to respond to a show cause notice does not by itself justify denial of an opportunity of hearing. The assessment was therefore set aside and the matter remitted for fresh consideration after granting opportunity to object and be heard.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order could be sustained when the assessee had not filed objections to the pre-assessment notice but was not afforded personal hearing before passing the revised assessment order.

Analysis: The petitioner had received the show cause notice but did not submit objections. Even so, the authority was bound to fix a date for personal hearing and communicate it in advance. The absence of any reference in the impugned order to such hearing was treated as a violation of the mandatory procedure. The Court followed the principle that failure to respond to a pre-assessment notice does not justify denial of personal hearing, and on that ground found the assessment vulnerable.

Conclusion: The impugned assessment order was set aside and the matter was remitted to the respondent for fresh consideration after granting opportunity of objection and personal hearing.

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