https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=423139 A departmental circular requiring mandatory pre-show cause consultation binds the department, and a show cause notice issued in breach of that procedure is arbitrary and liable to be set aside. The High Court held that the notice could not stand because the prescribed consultation was not followed, even though the requirement arose from a circular rather than a statute. The impugned notice was quashed, while the department was left free to restart proceedings from the stage of pre-show cause consultation in accordance with law. en-us Wed, 18 May 2022 00:00:00 +0530 Fri, 21 Oct 2022 16:09:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=423139 A departmental circular requiring mandatory pre-show cause consultation binds the department, and a show cause notice issued in breach of that procedure is arbitrary and liable to be set aside. The High Court held that the notice could not stand because the prescribed consultation was not followed, even though the requirement arose from a circular rather than a statute. The impugned notice was quashed, while the department was left free to restart proceedings from the stage of pre-show cause consultation in accordance with law. Case-Laws Service Tax Wed, 18 May 2022 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=423139