Adequate Hearing in Faceless Assessments Requires the prescribed response period and meaningful personal-hearing opportunity before assessment.

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....Faceless assessment procedures must provide the NFAC-prescribed minimum seven working days for a response and a meaningful opportunity of personal hearing. Allowing only one working day to reply, scheduling a hearing within less than 24 hours and before the reply deadline, and refusing a reasonable one-day adjournment denied natural justice. The assessment order, demand and penalty show-cause notices were quashed, with proceedings remanded to the show-cause-notice stage for fresh reply and hearing opportunities. Merits and other challenges remained open.....