Mandatory personal hearing under GST adjudication cannot be skipped; absence of oral hearing vitiates the adverse order.

Section 75(4) of the U.P. G.S.T. Act, 2017 requires a personal hearing before passing an adverse adjudication order, and that safeguard operates independently of the right to file a written reply. Where the notice reflected "NA" against personal hearing and the record showed that no oral hearing was afforded, the statutory defect went to the root of the matter. The adverse order was therefore set aside, and the matter was remitted for fresh adjudication after granting both an opportunity to reply and a personal hearing.

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Issues: Whether an adjudication order could stand when no opportunity of personal hearing was granted under Section 75(4) of the U.P. G.S.T. Act, 2017, despite notice under Section 73(1) of the Act.

Analysis: Section 75(4) makes personal hearing mandatory before an adverse order is passed. The notice issued to the petitioner showed "NA" against the column for personal hearing, and the record therefore disclosed that no oral hearing was afforded. The statutory scheme requires independent compliance with both the opportunity to file a written reply and the opportunity of oral hearing, and failure to avail one does not extinguish the other. Since the impugned order was passed without following this mandatory procedure, the defect went to the root of the matter.

Conclusion: The order was set aside and the matter was remitted for fresh adjudication after granting opportunity to file reply and personal hearing.

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