IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE, ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD (Special Original Jurisdiction) FRIDAY, THE FIFTH DAY OF SEPTEMBER TWO THOUSAND AND EIGHT PRESENT THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 18439 of 2008 Between: M/s. Medapati Veera Raghava Reddy D.No.75-6-15 Flat No.203 Karthik Residency,Prakash Nagar Rajamundry E.G District Rep.by its Proprietor Mr. Medapati Veera Raghava Reddy ..... PETITIONER AND The Commercial Tax Officer Arayapuram Circle Rajahmundry E.G District .....RESPONDENT Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the Aﬃdavit ﬁled herein the High Court will be pleased to issue writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or direction declaring the action of the respondent i.e., the assessing authority in passing the assessment proceedings dt 29-03-2008 for the assessment year 2004-05 without even issuing show cause notice as contemplated under section 14 of the AP General Sales Tax Act read with Rule 31 of the AP General Sales Taxes Rules, as arbitrary contrary to the provisions of the APGST act and in violation of principles of natural justice and contrary to the decision of This Hon'ble Court reported in 34 APSTJ 59 and consequently set aside the assessment proceedings as null and void. Counsel for the Petitioner:MR.SHAIK JEELANI BASHA Counsel for the Respondents: SRI K. RAJI REDDY, SPL. STANDING COUNSEL FOR COMMERCIAL TAX The Court made the following : THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI & THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 18439 of 2008 ORDER: (Per Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari) This writ petition is ﬁled seeking to declare the action of the respondent i.e., the assessing authority in passing the assessment proceedings dated 29-03-2008 for the assessment year 2004-05, without even issuing show cause notice as contemplated under section 14 of the AP General Sales Tax Act read with Rule 31 of the AP General Sales Taxes Rules, as arbitrary and contrary to the provisions of the APGST Act and consequently, to set aside the said assessment proceedings. The main grievance of the writ petitioner is that no opportunity was aﬀorded and no show cause notice was issued before passing the order impugned and such action of the respondent would amount to violation of the principles of natural justice and therefore, the order impugned is liable to be set aside. Heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner as well as the learned Special Standing Counsel for Commercial Tax and perused the material available on record. On instructions, the learned Standing Counsel submitted that a show cause notice was issued on 20.2.2008 and it was served on the petitioner on 25.2.2008. But the petitioner did not choose to ﬁle any objections and therefore, the order impugned has been passed. Irrespective of the fact as to whether the show cause notice was issued or not, in view of the controversy as to the issuance of show cause notice as well as the opportunity, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, We feel it just and proper to aﬀord an opportunity to the petitioner to ﬁle his objections in order to avoid multiplicity of proceedings of this nature. Accordingly, the order impugned is set aside subject to the condition of the petitioner ﬁling objections, if any, and depositing 50% of the disputed tax, within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order. On such deposit and ﬁling of objections, the respondent shall dispose of the matter, in accordance with law, within a period of three months thereafter. Subject to the above observation, the writ petition is disposed of. No order as to costs. ________________________ Justice T. Meena Kumari _________________________ Justice Ramesh Ranganathan Date: 5th September, 2008 Nn. THE HON'BLE SMT JUSTICE T.MEENA KUMARI and THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE RAMESH RANGANATHAN WRIT PETITION NO : 18439 of 2008 (Order delivered by the Hon’ble Smt. Justice T. Meena Kumari) 05/09/2008