Natural justice in GST adjudication: electronic notice after registration cancellation cannot stand without effective service and hearing.

Where GST registration has already been cancelled and is not revived, the recipient of electronic notices cannot be expected to keep checking the portal indefinitely if no effective physical or offline service is shown. In such circumstances, an adjudication order passed without meaningful notice and opportunity of hearing offends natural justice and cannot be sustained. The order was quashed, and the matter was restored for fresh adjudication after treating the impugned order as notice, allowing reply and personal hearing. The text also notes that, on these peculiar facts, the affected party was not relegated to the alternative statutory remedy.

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Issues: (i) Whether the impugned adjudication order was liable to be set aside for want of proper notice and opportunity of hearing after cancellation of GST registration. (ii) Whether the petitioner should be relegated to the alternative statutory remedy.

Issue (i): Whether the impugned adjudication order was liable to be set aside for want of proper notice and opportunity of hearing after cancellation of GST registration.

Analysis: The registration had already been cancelled and was never revived. On the stated facts, the petitioner was not obliged to keep checking the GST portal for electronic notices. No physical or offline notice was shown to have been served before the adjudication order was passed. The essential requirement of natural justice was therefore not satisfied.

Conclusion: The order dated 20.6.2023 was set aside, and the petitioner was permitted to treat it as notice and file a reply followed by personal hearing before a fresh order.

Issue (ii): Whether the petitioner should be relegated to the alternative statutory remedy.

Analysis: In the peculiar facts, no useful purpose would have been served by keeping the writ petition pending or directing the petitioner to pursue an alternate remedy.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not relegated to the alternative remedy.

Final Conclusion: The matter was restored for fresh adjudication after due notice, reply, and personal hearing, with the impugned order quashed for breach of natural justice.

Ratio Decidendi: Where electronic notice is issued after cancellation of GST registration and no effective offline service is shown, an adjudication order passed without a meaningful opportunity of hearing cannot be sustained.

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