Natural justice in tax reassessment requires a personal hearing and independent consideration of objections before revisional orders are passed.

Revisional orders under the Tamil Nadu VAT Act were vulnerable where they were passed without a personal hearing, without independent consideration of the assessee's objections and documents, and in a manner showing predetermination based on inspection findings. The Madras HC treated these defects as a breach of the duty of a quasi-judicial authority to apply its mind fairly to the material before it. The impugned assessment and revisional orders were set aside, and the matter was remitted for fresh consideration after granting another personal hearing and allowing written submissions and additional records.

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Issues: Whether the assessment orders and revisional orders were liable to be set aside for want of personal hearing, predetermination, and failure to consider the assessee's objections, and whether the matter was fit to be remitted for fresh consideration.

Analysis: The assessments had been concluded on deemed assessment basis under Section 22(2) of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006, and the authority later invoked Section 84 of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act, 2006 to reopen the proceedings. The orders were found vulnerable because they were passed without affording personal hearing and showed that the authority had proceeded on the basis of the inspection findings and had not independently applied its mind to the objections and documents filed by the assessee. The language of the orders also disclosed a pre-decided approach, contrary to the duty of a quasi-judicial authority to examine the material and decide the matter fairly.

Conclusion: The impugned orders were set aside and the matters were remitted for fresh consideration after granting another personal hearing and permitting the assessee to file written submissions and additional records.

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