Natural justice in GST adjudication requires effective notice; ex parte order set aside and matter remanded for fresh hearing.

An ex parte adjudication under Section 74(9) of the UPGST Act was treated as contrary to natural justice where the dealer's registration had already been cancelled with effect from an earlier date and there was no reasonable basis to expect repeated portal monitoring for an old tax notice. As personal service was not shown, the notice was found ineffective on the facts. The ex parte order was set aside and the matter remanded to the assessing authority for fresh adjudication after considering the reply and granting a hearing.

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Issues: Whether the ex parte order passed under Section 74(9) of the UPGST Act, 2017 was liable to be set aside for want of effective notice and violation of natural justice, and whether the matter required remand for fresh adjudication.

Analysis: The registration had been applied for cancellation and was later cancelled with effect from an earlier date, indicating that the petitioner had gone out of business. In those circumstances, there was no reasonable occasion to expect repeated portal-based monitoring for a notice relating to an earlier tax period. It was also not the Department's case that any notice was served personally. On these facts, the ex parte adjudication was treated as contrary to the principles of natural justice, consistent with the approach adopted in a coordinate bench decision on similar facts.

Conclusion: The ex parte order was set aside and the matter was remanded to the assessing authority for a fresh decision after considering the petitioner's reply and granting an opportunity of hearing.

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