Gujarat High Court Sets Aside GST Order After Taxpayer's Request For Personal Hearing Was Ignored

The Gujarat High Court has set aside an adjudication order passed under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, on the ground of violation of principles of natural justice, holding that failure to grant a personal hearing despite specific requests vitiates the proceedings.

A Division Bench comprising Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Pranav Trivedi was dealing with a writ petition filed by K.D. Engineers challenging an order-in-original dated August 20, 2025, and a consequential demand notice. 

The Court observed, “Despite the further request made by the petitioner by email dated 21.07.2025 to grant a hearing before passing any adverse order, as also by communication dated 14.08.2025, wherein the petitioner, while filing the further reply, had also sought a personal hearing, the same has been ignored by the respondents .... Accordingly, the said order having been passed in violation of the principles of natural justice and in breach of the provisions of Section 75(4) of the CGST Act, the same is required to be quashed and set aside.”

The petitioner contended that despite making specific requests for a personal hearing through email and written submissions dated 21.07.2025 and 14.08.2025, the adjudicating authority proceeded to pass the order without granting such an opportunity. It was further submitted that an additional reply filed on 14.08.2025 raising further grounds was not considered at all.

On the other hand, the revenue submitted that the additional reply appeared to have been inadvertently overlooked and reached the authority only on the date of passing of the order. It was argued that the earlier hearing conducted on 11.07.2025 satisfied the requirement of law.

Rejecting the revenue's stand, the court noted that the petitioner had specifically sought a further personal hearing before the passing of any adverse order and had also filed additional submissions, which were admittedly not considered. The Court held that such action amounted to breach of the statutory mandate under Section 75(4) of the CGST Act as well as a violation of principles of natural justice.

Accordingly, the High Court allowed the writ petition, quashed the impugned order as well as the consequential demand notice, and remanded the matter back to the adjudicating authority for fresh consideration after granting proper opportunity of hearing. The Court clarified that it had not expressed any opinion on merits.

For Petitioner: Advocate Manya N. Anjaria,

For Respondent: Archit P. Jani, Senior Standing Counsel