Delhi High Court (HC) presided over Justice Vibhu Bharkru and Justice Amit Mahajan quashed the unsigned show cause notice and assessment orders.
The petitioner has filed the present petition, impugning an order under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act (CGST), 2017, passed by the Adjudicating Authority (Assistant Commissioner), raising a total demand of ₹ 49,26,623.
Section 73 of CGST Act, 2017, provides for determination of tax not paid or short paid or erroneously refunded or input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised for any reason other than fraud or any wilful-misstatement or suppression of facts.
According to the section, the adjudication order must be given no later than three years after the annual return deadline for the year in question.
The court in the current case noted that it appears to be a generic notice noting that tax has not been paid or has been underpaid, refunds have been distributed incorrectly, or input tax credits have been improperly claimed or used. Obviously, this gives no indication of the justifications for the proposed actions.
It is noted that neither the contested order nor the show cause notice bear the signature of the relevant Officer.
The bench observed the case Railsys Engineers Private Limited & Anr. v. The Additional Commissioner of Central Goods and Services Tax (Appeals-II) & Anr stated that the order cannot be sustained as it is unsigned.
Additionally it was remarked by the bench that an unsigned notice or an order cannot be considered as an order as has been held by the Bombay High Court in Ramani Suchit Malushte v. Union of India and Ors. which is also reported by Taxscan.
The Court decided to provide the petitioner a chance to respond to the show cause notifications that were issued within two weeks of the order’s date. Also told to give everyone another chance to be heard.
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