Date of Personal Hearing Cannot Be Fixed Before the Date for Submission of Reply to SCN — Uttarakhand HC Quashes Assessment Order for Procedural Illegality

The Uttarakhand High Court has quashed an assessment order passed under Section 73(9) of the CGST/UKGST Act, holding that the date of personal hearing cannot be fixed before the date prescribed for submission of reply to the show cause notice, and that such a procedure is contrary to the scheme of the Act and constitutes a breach of principles of natural justice. The ruling, by Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and Justice Subhash Upadhyay in Writ Petition (M/B) No. 742 of 2026 (M/s Shri Shyam Engineers Solution, decided 10.09.2026), follows the Co-ordinate Bench decision in M/s Modine Thermal Systems Pvt. Ltd. v. State of Uttarakhand (WP (M/B) No. 123 of 2025).

The petitioner-firm had been issued a show cause notice on 13.08.2025 requiring a reply by 13.09.2025. However, the date of personal hearing was fixed for 21.08.2025 — a date that fell before the deadline for submission of reply. The respondent thereafter passed the assessment order on 20.12.2025 demanding tax of Rs. 1,24,497 along with interest and penalty.

The court relied on a conjunctive reading of Sections 73, 74 and 75 of the Act, as expounded in the Modine Thermal Systems decision. Sub-section (4) of Section 75 mandates an opportunity of hearing where any adverse decision is contemplated, and sub-section (5) enables the assessee to seek adjournments up to three times — a provision that presupposes the hearing follows the filing of a reply. The court noted that where the statute stipulates a matter to be performed in a particular manner, it must be performed in that manner only. The State Counsel was unable to dispute that fixing a personal hearing date prior to the reply deadline rendered the hearing ineffective.

The assessment order was quashed and the matter was remitted back to the Assessing Officer to proceed from the stage of show cause notice, granting the petitioner an opportunity to file its reply and thereafter fixing a date for personal hearing in accordance with the statutory scheme.

- 2026-juristway.com-2464-HC(Uttarakhand)-GST  |  High Court of Uttarakhand  |  Writ Petition (M/B) No. 742 of 2026  |  10.09.2026