Taxpayer Wins Challenge Against Arbitrary Tax Assessment Under Natural Justice Principles, Ordered Fresh Hearing with Procedural Fairness

HC quashed assessment orders for multiple tax years after finding violation of natural justice principles. The court determined that the Assessing Officer disregarded the petitioner's reply and failed to grant requested time extension. HC directed respondent to appropriate 10% of disputed tax demand, granted petitioner three weeks to submit reply, and mandated fresh assessment orders within two months, ensuring fair hearing and procedural compliance.

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Issues involved: Challenge to assessment orders for multiple assessment years based on petitioner's reply being disregarded.

Details of the Judgment:

Issue 1: Compliance with principles of natural justice
The petitioner, a works contractor and registered dealer under GST enactments, challenged assessment orders for various years citing disregard of their reply to an intimation. The petitioner's counsel argued that the Assessing Officer failed to consider the petitioner's response, thus violating principles of natural justice. The counsel also mentioned that the petitioner was willing to remit 10% of the disputed tax demand for remand.

Issue 2: Adherence to natural justice principles
The Government Advocate (Tax) contended that the principles of natural justice were followed as both an intimation and a show cause notice were issued to the petitioner. However, the petitioner's reply, which requested two months to respond due to pending proceedings with the central GST authorities and highlighted a significant deposit made, was not duly considered in the impugned orders. The court noted that the petitioner's reply was not taken into account, and the requested time extension was not granted. Consequently, the court quashed the impugned orders and directed the respondent to appropriate 10% of the disputed tax demand from the petitioner's bank account. The petitioner was given three weeks to submit a reply to the show cause notice, and upon compliance, the Assessing Officer was instructed to provide a reasonable opportunity for a personal hearing and issue fresh orders within two months.

This comprehensive summary covers the issues involved in the judgment and the detailed outcome for each issue, maintaining the legal terminology and key points from the original text.

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