Personal hearing before adverse GST assessment is mandatory; order quashed for breach of natural justice and statutory procedure.

An assessment order under the Uttar Pradesh GST Act was set aside because an adverse order was passed without affording the assessee a personal hearing under Section 75(4). The Court treated the denial of hearing as a breach of statutory procedure and principles of natural justice, and quashed the order. It granted liberty to the authority to obtain a fresh reply, provide a hearing, and then pass a reasoned order within the time fixed.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order passed under Section 74 of the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 was liable to be quashed for grant of personal hearing under Section 75(4) before passing an adverse order.

Analysis: The order records that, applying the ratio of the coordinate Bench, a personal hearing ought to have been afforded before an adverse order was passed. The absence of such opportunity was treated as a violation of Section 75(4) and of the principles of natural justice. The impugned order was therefore set aside, with liberty to the authority to obtain a fresh reply, grant hearing, and then pass a reasoned order within the time fixed.

Conclusion: The challenge succeeded and the impugned order was quashed, with a direction for de novo consideration after granting a fresh opportunity of reply and hearing.

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