2012 (12) TMI 851

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....e writ petitions is that the assessing authority has passed the impugned revised assessment orders under Section 27(1)(a) of the Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax Act (for short, "the TNVAT Act") without giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner in terms of Section 40(2), when the revision notices encompassed both for revision as well as for imposition of penalty. It is the specific plea of the petitioner that Section 40(2) of the TNVAT Act mandates the authority to give an opportunity of hearing before imposing penalty. It is not in dispute that the petitioner had filed their objections to the notices proposing revision. However, the only plea now taken is that when the revision of assessment notices encompassed both for revision as well....

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....CC 733, wherein the Supreme Court, while considering Rule 633(7) of the Uttar Pradesh Excise Manual which also provides for imposition of penalty and after referring to a plethora of decisions regarding the applicability of principles of natural justice, held that hearing is a must before imposition of penalty, whether or not statute or statutory provision/rules provide for it, as otherwise it would violate Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The Supreme Court has held as under: "28. The question with regard to the requirement of an opportunity of being heard in a particular case, even in the absence of provisions for such hearing, has been considered by this Court in a catena of cases. However, for the sake of brevity, we do not prop....

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....id doctrine. Therefore, we refrain from giving an exhaustive catalogue of the cases where the said principle should be applied. The question whether the principle has to be applied or not is to be considered bearing in mind the express language and the basic scheme of the provision conferring the power; the nature of the power conferred and the purpose for which the power is conferred and the final effect of the exercise of that power. It is only upon a consideration of all these matters that the question of application of the said principle can be properly determined.   30. Having considered the issue, framed in para 16, on the touchstone of the aforenoted legal principles in regard to the applicability of the principles of natural j....