HC quashes adjudication order requiring reasoned decisions, mandatory personal hearings with seven days notice

The HC quashed the impugned order and set aside the adjudication. The court held that any order passed must be reasoned and address all submissions made by the assessee. A personal hearing is mandatory with at least seven working days advance notice. If the officer intends to rely on judicial pronouncements, the list must be provided to the assessee along with the hearing notice to enable proper response. The court directed completion of adjudication by 31.10.2025, emphasizing procedural fairness in show cause notice proceedings. The appeal was disposed of with these directions.

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The Madras High Court, with Chief Justice K.R. Shriram delivering the judgment, disposed of the writ appeals by quashing and setting aside the impugned order without expressing any opinion on the merits. The respondent/assessee, without prejudice to their rights including on limitation, agreed to submit replies to the show cause notices dated 28.9.2023 within four weeks from receipt of all relied-upon documents, which the adjudicating authority must re-issue duly indexed and paginated. The Assessing Officer is directed to conduct year-wise assessments from July 2017 to March 2022, allowing a minimum four-week gap between each year's assessment, excluding any time lost from limitation calculations. The final order must be reasoned, address all submissions, and follow a personal hearing with at least seven working days' notice. The officer must also provide the assessee with any judicial pronouncements intended to be relied upon prior to the hearing. The adjudication is to be completed by 31.10.2025. All rights and contentions remain open.

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