TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
Commercial Taxes Department - Assessment / Adjudication proceedings - Under TNGST Act, 2017 and other legacy Acts - Adherence of the Principles of Natural Justice - Circular Instructions issued
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....rding. 1. The Circular No-7 / 2014 dated 03.02.2014. 2. The Circular No. 32 / 2015 dated 17.08.2015 3. The Circular No.5 / 2016 dated 04.05.2016. It has come to notice that, in many cases the Assessment/ Adjudication orders are passed by the Proper Officer without properly following the principles of Natural Justice, in letter and spirit, which results in the challenging the proceedings by the assessees, by way of filing writ petition before the Hon'ble High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India. In such cases the Hon'ble High Court has set aside the proceedings and directed to redo the assessment process de-novo. 2. It is imperative to mention that the Natural Justice is the essence of any....
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....hority from doing injustice. The adherence to principles of Natural Justice as recognized by all civilized States is of Supreme importance when a quasi-judicial body embarks on determining disputes between the parties, or any administrative action involving civil consequences is in issue. Precise and unambiguous notice is the first limb of the principle of Audi Alteram Partem. Notice should apprise the party the case he has to meet. Adequate time should be given to make his representation." 4. The two basic rules associated with Natural Justice are: (i) "No man can be judge in his own cause" ( Nemo debet essc judex in propria causa) and it is popularly known as "doctrine of bias"; (ii) "No one should be cond....
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....e proposed action is being initiated. The revision process shall be initiated within the time limit provided as per the provisions of the Act. In the cases where the show cause notice has been issued under Section 74 of the TNGST Act, 2017, wherein extended time limit has been provided for revision, the reason such as fraud or wilful mis-statement or suppression of facts to evade tax, which is a sine qua non for the revision, shall be justified in the notice. b) Grant of Reasonable Time to file Reply and dealing with Adjournments: The person to whom show-cause notice is issued should be given sufficient and reasonable time, to prepare their reply. What is reasonable time depend on the facts and circumstances....
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....equest and at his cost. 3 d) Grant of Personal Hearing: Apart from making the written representation, the assessee shall be provided with an opportunity of personal hearing. Such opportunity shall be provided, as per the provisions of the Acts and also, wherever the same was sought for by the assessee. The notice of personal hearing shall specify the date, time and venue and shall be sent well in advance, to the assessee, so as to enable to attend the hearing. A fair, reasonable and patient hearing shall be granted and the proceedings of the personal hearing shall be recorded. If the day fixed for hearing falls on holiday or when a particular time of the day was fixed for hearing and the authority was not....
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.... It has been held by the Hon'ble 4 Supreme Court of India in the case of Shri Swamiji of Shri Admar Mutt and Others v. The Commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Dept. and Ors., reported in (1979) 4 SCC 642 that "Reason is the soul of the Law, and when the reason of any particular law ceases, so does the Law itself" After a fair hearing and judicial consideration of the representation, evidence and materials furnished by the assessee, the Assessing/ Adjudicating Authority shall pass a reasoned order and such order shall meet out each and every objections raised and supportive evidence filed by the assessee, in a cogent, clear and succinct manner. The Assessing / Adjudicating Authority sha....
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....." 8. In a nut shell, all Assessing / Adjudicating Authorities shall scrupulously follow the principles of Natural Justice in all the quasi-judicial 5 proceedings, without any flaw and always pass Speaking Orders, which can withstand the judicial scrutiny 9. The receipt of this circular shall be acknowledged by the Joint Commissioners, immediately, who in turn shall take acknowledgement from each and every Assessing / Adjudicating Authority, under their control. Further, this circular instructions shall be kept in the stock file. Any wilful disregard / disobedience in adherence to the principles of Natural Justice brought to notice would be dealt with severely. Sd/-Dheeraj Kumar Principal Secretary/ ....