Predetermined tax show cause notices violate fair procedure and cannot support consequential orders.

Show cause notices are invalid where, in substance, they pre-determine tax liability and quantify the demand instead of genuinely requiring the assessee to respond, because that denies a real opportunity of hearing and offends fair procedure. On that basis, the consequential order based on an identical notice for the same factual matrix could not survive once the foundation notices were found unsustainable; it was liable to be quashed and the matter remitted for fresh proceedings in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the impugned show cause notices were unsustainable as they effectively determined the tax liability in advance and whether the consequent order could survive.

Analysis: The notices were issued after the assessee had replied to the pre-notice intimation and, on their face and in substance, quantified the demand on the basis of that reply. The Court found that the notices did not merely call upon the assessee to show cause but reflected a predetermined conclusion on liability, and the absence of any real opportunity of hearing offended the requirement of fair procedure. Since the notices were identical in substance and arose from the same factual matrix, the consequential order passed in respect of one period could not stand once the foundation notices were held unsustainable.

Conclusion: The impugned show cause notices were invalid in law, and the consequential order was liable to be quashed, with the matter remitted for initiation of fresh proceedings in accordance with law.

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