Natural justice in GST adjudication requires proper service of notice before adverse action and personal hearing.

Where a GST registration had already been cancelled and was never revived, the assessee was not required to keep checking the portal for e-notices. As no physical or offline notice was shown to have been served before the adjudication order, the Court held that the requirement of natural justice was not met. In these facts, the petitioner was not relegated to the alternative remedy forum at that stage, and the adjudication order was set aside with liberty to file a reply to the show cause notice and receive a fresh decision after personal hearing.

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Issues: Whether the adjudication order was liable to be set aside for want of proper notice and breach of the principles of natural justice, where the petitioner's GST registration had already been cancelled and no physical notice was shown to have been served.

Analysis: The petitioner's registration under the UPGST Act, 2017 had been cancelled with effect from 31.03.2019 and was never revived. In that situation, it was held that the petitioner was not obliged to keep visiting the GST portal for e-mode notices. The revenue also did not dispute that no physical or offline notice had been issued or served before passing the impugned order. In these facts, the Court found that the essential requirement of natural justice had not been fulfilled and that the petitioner need not be relegated to the alternative remedy forum at that stage.

Conclusion: The adjudication order was set aside and the petitioner was granted liberty to file a reply to the show cause notice, followed by a fresh order after affording an opportunity of personal hearing.

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