Personal hearing under GST cannot be bypassed; defective notice without hearing details vitiates the assessment order.

A show cause notice under the CGST Act was held defective where it left the date, time and venue of personal hearing blank, depriving the taxpayer of an effective hearing and breaching natural justice. The omission meant the statutory requirement of personal hearing under Section 75(4) was not met, so the consequential assessment order and demand could not be sustained. The notice and assessment order were quashed, with liberty to issue a fresh notice and continue proceedings after granting a proper opportunity of hearing.

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Issues: Whether the assessment order and demand raised under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 were liable to be quashed for want of a proper opportunity of hearing and non-compliance with the requirement of personal hearing under Section 75(4) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

Analysis: The show cause notice did not specify the date, time or venue of personal hearing and left the relevant columns blank. The notice therefore failed to afford an effective opportunity of hearing and was found to be vitiated for breach of natural justice. On that basis, the consequential assessment order could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The impugned show cause notice and the assessment order were quashed, with liberty to issue a fresh notice and proceed afresh after granting opportunity of personal hearing.

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