Court No. - 3
Case :- WRIT TAX No. - 467 of 2021 Petitioner :- Shri Sai Ram Bhatta Company Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Jai Prakash Narain Shukla,Pranjal Shuklaand Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.
Hon'ble Naheed Ara Moonis,J. Hon'ble Saumitra Dayal Singh,J.
Heard Shri Pranjal Shukla, learned counsel for the petitioner; Shri C.B. Tripathi, learned Special Counsel for the Revenue and; learned Standing Counsel for the State.
Challenge raised in the present petition is to the order dated 07.08.2020 passed with reference to Rule 22 of The Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 read with Section 29 of The Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
Solitary submission advanced by learned counsel for the petitioner is that the notice preceding the order dated 23.7.2020 did not specify the date for submission of reply and, in any case, did not specify any date for appearance in the matter. In the context of the proceeding and proviso to sub section 2 of Section 29 of the aforesaid Act, it was mandatory for the respondent authority to have granted an opportunity of hearing.
For that opportunity to be real, it was incumbent on the respondent authority to have fixed a date, place and time of the hearing. Plainly, that requirement has not been met though the time of seven days was specified for furnishing the reply.
On the other hand, learned Special Counsel for the Revenue would submit that almost one year has passed since the impugned order came to be passed, therefore, no interference may be made by the writ court, at this belated stage.
Having heard learned counsel for the parties and having perused the record, in view of the deficiency of procedure noted it has resulted in complete denial of principles of natural justice.
In view of the facts noted above, we dispose of the writ petition with a direction, in case the petitioner files an application for recall of the aforesaid order, before respondent no.3 along with a copy of this order, the said application may be dealt with and decided, on it's own merits, within a period of two weeks from the date of it's filing, without objecting as to limitation. Such direction is being issued in the present circumstances as due to spread of the pandemic COVID-19, the parties and citizens are at disadvantage in pursing their legal remedies.
Order Date :- 30.7.2021 Prakhar