Defective GST cancellation notice lacking hearing date and time breaches natural justice and renders cancellation void.
Cancellation of GST registration was held unsustainable where the show cause notice did not comply with the prescribed form by omitting the date and time of personal hearing. The Court treated this defect as a denial of the statutory opportunity of hearing under the Uttar Pradesh GST Act and Rules, contrary to natural justice, and held that portal service could not cure the defective notice. The cancellation proceedings were therefore illegal and void, and the cancellation order was quashed, with liberty to the revenue to proceed afresh in accordance with law.
Issues: Whether the cancellation of registration was liable to be quashed because the show cause notice did not specify the date and time for personal hearing and was not in the prescribed format.
Analysis: The statutory scheme under Section 29(2) of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 read with Rule 22(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 requires issuance of a show cause notice in the prescribed form and affording the person concerned an opportunity of being heard. The prescribed form contemplates advance intimation of the date and time of personal hearing. The notice issued in the present case omitted that essential detail. Such omission deprived the petitioner of the effective opportunity of hearing mandated by the rule and offended the principles of natural justice. Service through the common portal could not cure the defect in the notice itself.
Conclusion: The cancellation proceedings founded on the defective notice were illegal, void, and a nullity. The impugned cancellation order was quashed.
Final Conclusion: The writ petition was allowed, and the revenue authorities were left at liberty to proceed afresh in accordance with law.
Ratio Decidendi: A cancellation of registration is unsustainable where the show cause notice, though issued under the GST framework, fails to comply with the prescribed form by omitting the date and time of personal hearing, thereby denying the statutorily required opportunity of hearing.
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