Writ jurisdiction barred by statutory appeal remedy where personal hearing was waived and natural justice breach was not made out.

Writ petitions challenging assessment orders under Section 74(1) of the Rajasthan GST Act were held not maintainable because an efficacious statutory appeal lay under Section 107 of the CGST Act. The court noted that the taxpayer had replied to the notices and, in Form GST DRC-06, had consciously declined personal hearing, so the assessment orders could not be assailed as violative of natural justice. As the alleged procedural defect was not made out and the appellate remedy remained available, writ jurisdiction was not invoked against the assessment orders. The petitions were dismissed with liberty to pursue statutory appeals.

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Issues: Whether the writ petitions challenging the assessment orders under Section 74(1) of the Rajasthan Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 were maintainable in view of the statutory appeal remedy under Section 107 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and whether the orders were vitiated by breach of natural justice.

Analysis: The petitioner had filed replies to the notices and, in Form GST DRC-06, consciously declined the option of personal hearing. On that basis, the orders could not be treated as having been passed in violation of the principles of natural justice. Since an efficacious appellate remedy was available under Section 107, the writ jurisdiction was not to be invoked against the assessment orders.

Conclusion: The writ petitions were not maintainable and were liable to be dismissed, with liberty to pursue the statutory appeals.

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