GST appeal rejection needs a proper hearing; absent notice, the rejection and consequential proceedings are liable to be quashed.

An appellate authority under the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act must afford the assessee an opportunity of hearing before rejecting a GST appeal, especially where the prescribed pre-deposit has been made. Where only an endorsement is issued calling for an explanation on delay and no hearing date is notified, the rejection order is procedurally defective and liable to be set aside. Consequential criminal proceedings based on that rejection cannot survive once the appellate order is quashed, and the matter must be reconsidered afresh in accordance with law.

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Issues: Whether the appellate authority could reject the assessee's GST appeal without affording a proper opportunity of hearing, and whether the endorsement, rejection order, and consequential criminal proceedings were liable to be quashed.

Analysis: The appeal had been preferred against the assessment order and the prescribed pre-deposit had been made. The record showed that the appellate authority issued only an endorsement calling upon the appellant to explain why the belated appeal should not be rejected, but no date of hearing of the appeal was notified. In the statutory scheme governing appeals under the Karnataka Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, the appellant authority was required to afford an opportunity of hearing under Section 107(8) before proceeding further. The absence of such notice vitiated the subsequent rejection order. Once the appellate order was set aside, the proceedings initiated consequentially in the criminal miscellaneous case could not survive.

Conclusion: The endorsement, the rejection order, and the consequential criminal proceedings were quashed, and the assessee was directed to appear before the appellate authority, which was to proceed afresh in accordance with law. The relief was thus granted in part in favour of the assessee.

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