Mandatory hearing before assessment renders orders invalid when objections are not heard under the statutory procedure.

A valid opportunity of hearing is mandatory before assessment under section 19(4) of the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1957. A notice that merely calls for objections, without fixing a hearing date, does not satisfy the statutory hearing requirement. Where objections are not heard and the assessment is finalised straightaway, the assessment orders are vitiated for breach of natural justice and cannot stand.

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Issues: Whether the assessment orders could stand when the assessee was not afforded a proper opportunity of hearing before the orders were passed under section 19(4) of the Mysore Agricultural Income-tax Act, 1957.

Analysis: The notice issued after the initial defective service merely called upon the assessee to file objections and did not fix any date for hearing. The statutory requirement under the second proviso to section 19(4) demanded a real opportunity of being heard before the assessment was finalised. Since the objections were not taken up for hearing and the assessments were made straightaway, the orders suffered from breach of the hearing requirement.

Conclusion: The assessment orders were unsustainable and were quashed in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute requires an opportunity of being heard before assessment, a notice that does not fix a hearing date and is followed by assessment without hearing the objections is invalid.

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