BARUA AND COMPANY PVT. LTD. Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The writ petition directed against an order dated May 25, 2022 passed by the Service Tax Department was entertained, as evident from the order dated July 25, 2022, primarily on the ground that no notice of hearing before passing the impugned order was issued to or received by the petitioning assessee.

(2.) In this context, it may be relevant to set out the salient part of the order dated July 25, 2022:

(3.) The respondent authorities have filed an affidavit from which it is evident that the initial show-cause notice was duly received by or on behalf of the assessee. However, according to the Department, subsequent notices dated April 7, 2022, April, 22, 2022 and April 29, 2022 were issued to an email address apparently furnished by an authorised representative of the assessee. Indeed, the impugned order dated May 25, 2022 clearly refers to the notices dated April 7, 2022, April, 22, 2022 and April 29, 2022 which were apparently served on the assessee on April 20, 2022, April 29, 2022 and May 13, 2022, respectively, going unheeded.