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<h1>Court upholds tax assessment order, emphasizes statutory appeal availability; Natural justice not breached;</h1> <h3>Hover Automotive India Private Limited Versus Union of India and Ors.</h3> Hover Automotive India Private Limited Versus Union of India and Ors. - TMI Issues:Challenge to order-in-original assessing service tax dues; Maintainability of writ petition against appellate forum availability; Violation of principles of natural justice in the order under challenge.Analysis:1. The petitioner challenged an order-in-original assessing service tax dues, passed on a show-cause notice alleging non-payment/short payment of service tax. The respondents objected to the maintainability of the writ petition, arguing that the petitioner should appeal to the Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) first, citing precedents where appellate remedies were emphasized over writ petitions.2. The petitioner argued that the availability of a statutory appellate remedy does not always bar the jurisdiction of the Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. They referred to exceptions where a writ petition could be entertained, such as breach of fundamental rights, violation of natural justice, excess of jurisdiction, or challenge to the vires of a statute. The petitioner contended that the order under challenge showed a breach of natural justice, specifically in the Commissioner's failure to provide reasons for not applying the case laws cited.3. The Court examined whether the order-in-original violated principles of natural justice. They noted that while the order had reasons for the conclusions reached, the petitioner argued that the Commissioner's failure to provide separate reasons for not applying the cited case laws amounted to a violation of natural justice. The Court referred to previous decisions emphasizing the importance of recording reasons in quasi-judicial functions.4. The Court highlighted that the Commissioner, acting in an administrative capacity, was not required to provide detailed reasoning akin to a judicial order. They concluded that the omission to separately address the cited authorities was not a violation of natural justice warranting interference through a writ petition, especially when a statutory remedy of appeal was available. The Court declined to interfere and dismissed the writ petition, allowing the petitioner to pursue the appellate remedy.5. The Court emphasized that the availability of an alternative statutory remedy does not always preclude the jurisdiction of the writ court, but specific circumstances, such as a clear violation of natural justice, must be established to warrant interference through a writ petition. The judgment reiterated the importance of principles of natural justice in administrative actions but concluded that the order-in-original did not suffer from such a violation justifying the Court's intervention.