Uttarakhand High Court Quashed GST Demand Order for Failure to Grant Personal Hearing:

Uttarakhand High Court Quashed GST Demand Order for Failure to Grant Personal Hearing The Uttarakhand High Court quashed the impugned order passed under Section 74 of the UK GST Act, as the assessee was not heard personally, violating Section 75(4) of the Act and principles of natural justice. The petitioner, Sunny Kumar, approached the Uttarakhand High Court challenging an order dated 2nd July 2025 passed by the state GST authorities under Section 74 of the Uttarakhand Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The petitioner contended that the adjudication order had been passed without fixing any date for a personal hearing and without providing an effective opportunity for the petitioner to present his case effectively. The show cause notice dated 7th July 2023 was referred to, and it did not mention any date of hearing. The State’s counsel admitted that the impugned order had been passed without providing an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. It was admitted that such action was contrary to the mandate of Section 75(4) of the UKGST Act. The Division Bench held that the adjudication order caused a clear violation of the statutory requirement prescribed under Section 75(4) of the Act. The court observed that the show cause notice itself did not specify any date for a personal hearing, and the revenue had also accepted that no hearing was granted before passing the order. Consequently, the impugned order dated 2nd July 2025 could not be sustained in law and quashed the order and reaffirmed that the opportunity of personal hearing contemplated under Section 75(4) of the GST law is a mandatory safeguard. Any adjudication order passed under Section 74 without granting such an opportunity violates statutory provisions as well as principles of natural justice and is liable to be set aside. The Uttarakhand High Court also granted liberty to the revenue authorities to proceed afresh on the basis of the existing show cause notice after providing an adequate opportunity of hearing to the petitioner. All pending applications were also disposed of.