M/S.Devraj Mishra vs. The Commissioner Of CT And GST,Ctc
Held
The Court held that the impugned order dated 08.11.2018 deserved to be quashed solely on the ground of violation of the principles of natural justice, as the petitioner was not heard before its passing. The Court noted that if the authority required any clarification or discrepancy resolution based on the petitioner's reply, it should have communicated with the petitioner. Without entering into the merits of the case, the Court directed the petitioner to appear before the Deputy Commissioner of CT & GST Circle, Bolangir, on 15.04.2019. The authority was then directed to decide the matter after affording the petitioner an opportunity of hearing within four weeks from the date of appearance. The ratio decidendi is that an order passed without affording a hearing to the affected party is a nullity and liable to be quashed on grounds of violation of natural justice.
Facts
The petitioner filed a writ petition challenging an order dated 08.11.2018 passed by the Deputy Commissioner of CT & GST Circle, Bolangir. The petitioner contended that this order was contrary to a previous order of the High Court in W.P.(C) No. 14807 of 2017, which had directed that the revenue could carry out tax audits for dealing with the petitioner's fund claims and that the refund claim should be dealt with within eight weeks. The petitioner further argued that they were not heard before the impugned order was passed, violating the principles of natural justice. The authority had not sought any clarification or discrepancy resolution from the petitioner.
Key Issues
1. Whether the order dated 08.11.2018 passed by the Deputy Commissioner of CT & GST Circle, Bolangir, is in violation of the principles of natural justice by not affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner? 2. Whether the impugned order is contrary to the directions issued by this Court in W.P.(C) No. 14807 of 2017? Petitioner's arguments: The petitioner argued that the impugned order was passed without providing them an opportunity to be heard, thus violating the principles of natural justice. They also contended that the order was contrary to the previous High Court order which had directed the revenue to proceed with the refund claim after tax audit and that the authority should have sought clarifications instead of passing an adverse order. The revenue's arguments: The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the revenue.
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02.04.2019
Heard learned counsel for the parties.
By way of this writ petition, the petitioner has challenged the order dated 08.11.2018 (Annexure-1) passed by the Deputy Commissioner of CT & GST Circle, Bolangir, which is prima facie seems to be against the order passed by this Court in W.P.(C) No. 14807 of 2017 and is contrary to the direction issued by this Court, which reads as under:
“In view of the above, we are of the considered view that there exists no bar in law on the revenue to carrying out necessary tax audit as required for the purpose of dealing with the petitioner’s fund claims.
Accordingly, the writ application is allowed. The order dated 24.06.2017 passed by the Deputy Commissioner of Sales Tax, Bolangir Circle, Bolangir under Annexure-1 is quashed and the refund claim of the petitioner may be dealt with in the manner as prescribed under law forthwith preferably within a period of eight weeks from today.”
But, the petitioner was not heard before passing the order under Annexure-1. If on the reply submitted by the petitioner, the authority wanted any clarification, it ought to have ask
The judgment continues below.
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