Natural justice in assessment requires consideration of objections and personal hearing before finalisation; orders were set aside and remanded.

Assessment orders were invalid where the authority failed to consider the taxpayers' objections to the proposal and completed the assessment without granting a personal hearing. That omission breached natural justice because fair consideration of objections is required before finalising assessment. The defect went to the root of the process, justifying writ interference. The orders were set aside and the matter was remanded for fresh assessment after due consideration of the objections and an opportunity of hearing.

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Issues: Whether the assessment orders were liable to be set aside for failure to consider the objections filed against the proposal and for breach of natural justice, with consequential remand for fresh assessment.

Analysis: The objections filed by the petitioners were not dealt with in the impugned assessment orders. The assessment was completed without reference to those objections and without affording personal hearing. In such circumstances, the orders did not satisfy the requirement of fair consideration before finalising the assessment. The defect went to the root of the assessment process and justified interference in writ jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The assessment orders were vitiated by breach of natural justice and were set aside, with a direction to redo the assessment after considering the objections and granting personal hearing.

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