https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=159689 A penalty order under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act was vulnerable where the assessee was not given an effective hearing after the documents relied on by the authority were supplied. The Court treated the penalty provision as penal in nature and held that natural justice required a meaningful opportunity to respond to the material before the order was made. A prior hearing and a written reply did not cure the later of a further oral hearing. The revisional orders could not remedy that defect, so the penalty and revisional orders were set aside and the matter was remitted for fresh consideration after due hearing. en-us Tue, 09 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0530 Fri, 29 Nov 2013 15:32:22 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=159689 A penalty order under the Kerala General Sales Tax Act was vulnerable where the assessee was not given an effective hearing after the documents relied on by the authority were supplied. The Court treated the penalty provision as penal in nature and held that natural justice required a meaningful opportunity to respond to the material before the order was made. A prior hearing and a written reply did not cure the later of a further oral hearing. The revisional orders could not remedy that defect, so the penalty and revisional orders were set aside and the matter was remitted for fresh consideration after due hearing. Case-Laws VAT and Sales Tax Tue, 09 Mar 1999 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=159689