High Court Quashes GST Orders for Lack of Personal Hearing; Directs Fresh Adjudication with Proper Notice

Gateway Exim challenged the Order-in-Original dated 28.08.2024 and the appellate order dated 06.03.2025 under the Gujarat GST Act, contending that both orders were passed without granting a proper personal hearing. The petitioner pointed to the GST DRC-01 notice where only the reply-due date was filled in, while the mandatory details of personal hearing, date, time, and venue, were left blank.

Due to the omission, the petitioner unable to upload documents or properly respond to the show cause notice, resulting in a violation of natural justice.

Main Issue
Whether the GST adjudicating and appellate authorities violated Section 75(4) of the Gujarat GST Act by failing to intimate the date, time, and venue of personal hearing before passing adverse orders.

Decision by HC: The High Court set aside both the adjudication and appellate orders, holding that the mandatory requirement of informing the taxpayer about the date, time, and venue of the personal hearing was not fulfilled. The Court noted that DRC-01 itself contained blank fields for personal hearing details, and even the portal notings did not specify the required particulars. It held that although DRC-01 need not necessarily contain hearing details at the time of issuance, before passing any adverse order, the officer must mandatorily communicate the date, time, and venue of the hearing.

The Court emphasised that Section 75(4) requires an opportunity of hearing whenever adverse action is contemplated, and Section 75(5) contemplates up to three adjournments with recorded reasons. Portal notings without specific hearing details do not meet these statutory requirements.

Thus, the Court quashed the Order-in-Original dated 28.08.2024 and the appellate order dated 06.03.2025. The adjudicating authority was directed to freshly intimate the date, time, and venue of hearing and then pass a fresh order.

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