The Court held that once a hearing date is fixed and no order is passed, the authority must communicate the next date — failing which, the ex parte nature is forced upon the petitioner by the authority's own conduct.
The Allahabad High Court has quashed an ex parte assessment order passed under Section 73 of the GST Act for the financial year 2019-20, holding that the assessing authority had violated the principles of natural justice by not passing the order on the date fixed and then proceeding to pass it on a subsequent date without communicating the same to the petitioner [Meraj Ahmad, Proprietor M/s Meraj Brick Field v. State of U.P.].
The bench of Justices Shekhar B. Saraf and Amitabh Kumar Rai relied on the coordinate bench decision in M/s Shubham Steel Traders v. State of U.P., where the Court had observed: "By not passing the order on the date fixed and not communicating the next date fixed in the proceedings, the assessing authority forced the ex-parte nature of the order on the petitioner, by its own conduct."
Finding that the facts were identical, the Court quashed the order and directed the authority to grant an opportunity of personal hearing before passing a reasoned order in accordance with law.
2026-juristway.com-3079-HC(Allahabad)-GST
