Personal hearing under GST adjudication is mandatory; order set aside and matter remitted for fresh decision.

An adjudication order under the Uttar Pradesh GST Act was found vulnerable where it was passed without complying with the statutory requirement of personal hearing and the safeguards in Section 75. The Court treated the absence of due opportunity to be heard as a material procedural infirmity, particularly since the facts matched earlier matters in which similar orders had already been set aside. The order was therefore set aside and the matter remitted for fresh adjudication after granting the taxpayer a proper personal hearing.

---

---

Issues: Whether the adjudication order passed under Section 73 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 was liable to be set aside for breach of the requirement of personal hearing and compliance with the statutory safeguards under Section 75.

Analysis: The impugned adjudication order was challenged on the ground that it had been passed in violation of the mandate of Sections 75(4) and 75(7). The Court noted that the facts were identical to earlier matters in which similar adjudication orders had already been set aside. The absence of due opportunity of personal hearing was treated as a material procedural infirmity warranting interference.

Conclusion: The adjudication order was set aside and the matter was remitted to the respondent authority to pass a fresh order after affording due opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner.

---