Natural justice requires prior notice and hearing before assessment; defective assessment and demand notice were quashed, with remand refused.

An assessment made without prior service of notice and without giving the petitioners an opportunity of hearing was held to breach natural justice and was quashed along with the consequential demand notice. The order was also affected by an incorrect hearing date and delayed service, which reinforced the procedural defect. The request for remand was rejected because remand is not automatic and was not justified on the facts presented. The connected matter involving the same petitioners and similar facts was treated as covering the dispute.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order and consequential demand notice were liable to be quashed for want of prior notice and opportunity of hearing, and whether remand was warranted.

Analysis: The assessment was made without service of notice on the petitioners and without affording them an opportunity of being heard. The order also recorded an incorrect hearing date, and the impugned order was served only several months later. The dispute was treated as covered by the reasoning adopted in the connected matter involving the same petitioners and similar facts.

Conclusion: The assessment order and the corresponding demand notice were quashed and set aside. The request for remand was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: An assessment made without prior notice and opportunity of hearing is vitiated for breach of natural justice and is liable to be quashed, and remand is not automatic where the facts do not justify it.

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