The Patna High Court has dismissed a petition contesting the 6 Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) assessment orders in one petition citing lack of jurisdiction and natural justice without substantiation. It was ruled that an assessee must present strong and compelling grounds when approaching the High Court directly without first availing the appellate remedy under the GST Act.
In the case of Frontier Agrotech, a distributor of pesticides and insecticides, the petitioner bypassed the statutory appeal mechanism and challenged multiple GST assessment orders under Article 226 of the Indian Constitution.
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The Chief Justice K. Vinod Chandran and Justice Rajiv Roy noted the precedent in State of H.P. & Ors. v. Gujarat Ambuja Cement Limited & Anr., submitted by the petitioner, wherein the Supreme Court emphasised that High Court intervention should only be invoked under extraordinary circumstances with a substantiated case.
In its petition, Frontier Agrotech alleged jurisdictional overreach and violations of natural justice principles in the assessment orders. However, the Court found these claims to be unsubstantiated, noting that mere assertions without evidence were insufficient. The petitioner also challenged the legality of an inspection authorization dated August 12, 2023, claiming that it simply echoed provisions of Section 67(1) of the Bihar GST Act, 2017, without justifiable cause.
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Additionally, the petitioner raised objections against various aspects of the assessment, such as the reversal of Input Tax Credit, calculation errors, and mismatches in outward supply figures reported in e-way bills.
These issues, the Court observed, could have been more appropriately addressed through the appellate process rather than a writ petition. The Court also noted that challenging multiple assessment orders within a single petition was procedurally improper, as each assessment constitutes a separate cause of action.
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Despite the petitioner’s assertion that the writ was filed within the appeal period, the Court ruled that this alone was insufficient to bypass the appellate remedy. The Court directed the petitioner to file an appeal for assessment years 2018-19 to 2022-23 within five weeks, allowing the Appellate Authority to consider the appeals on merit.
For the assessment order of April to July 2023, the petitioner was given a further month to file an appeal, with an option for delay condonation if necessary.
The Patna High Court dismissed the petition, affirming that the appellate remedy should not be circumvented without substantial justification for invoking the Court’s extraordinary jurisdiction.
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