De novo GST adjudication was permitted despite the taxable...

De novo GST adjudication was permitted despite the taxable person's failure to respond to show-cause notices, attend personal hearings, or file a timely statutory appeal. Upon an undertaking to deposit 25% of the disputed tax, the HC required the taxable person to submit a substantiated reply with supporting documents and directed fresh adjudication on merits. The impugned orders were to operate as addenda to the show-cause notices for this purpose. Any consequential bank attachment was to be vacated subject to compliance. If the deposit and reply requirements were not met, tax authorities could recover the demand in accordance with law.

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