The Calcutta High Court recently refused to quash and set aside the order against the assessee passed by the Additional Commissioner, Central Goods & Services Tax ( CGST ) and Central Excise as the non-appearance of assessee was found to be non-bonafide.
The petitioner approached the Calcutta High Court against the order-in-original passed after a Show Cause Notice was issued against the assessee, under Section 73 of the Finance Act, 1994 read with Section 174(2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017.
The petitioner counsels Jagriti Mishra, Subrata Pal, Unus Ali, Subham Gupta, Debayan Goswami and Ananya Bhattacharya submitted that as the Corona Pandemic was at its peak at that point of time, it was absolutely impossible for the petitioner to collect all documents and submit the reply to the show cause within the time as specified in the show cause-cum demand notice.
The reply to show cause was filed on August 26, 2021. After the show cause was filed the petitioner was requested to appear in the personal hearing. It was further submitted that the said opportunity could not be availed of because he was suffering from several comorbidities and did not take the risk of moving out during the pandemic period.
The petitioner, primarily contending that the impugned Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) order is an ex parte one. As he was not in a position to avail the opportunity of hearing granted to him, he submitted that the matter may be remanded back to the authority for reconsideration on merits.
On the contrary, the respondent-revenue submitted that “Neither did the petitioner file appeal within the time prescribed in Section 107 of the Goods and Services Tax Act” and that “repeated opportunities were given to the petitioner for production of documents. Upon consideration of the submission of the petitioner, arrangement was made for personal hearing on virtual mode.”
The revenue and state representatives Ratan Banik, Shankar Sarkar and Bedashruti Bose also submitted that the petitioner was given upto six hearing in virtual mode and contended that at such belated point of time, the matter ought not to be remanded to the authority for reconsideration.
The Calcutta High Court observed that “The Corona Pandemic substantially ebbed in the year 2021 and as opportunity was given for virtual hearing, the petitioner ought to have availed the same.”
It was further observed by the Single Bench of Justice Amrita Sinha that “The conduct of the petitioner does not appear to be a bona fide one. At such a belated point of time, the Court is of the opinion that the matter is not required to be remanded back to the authority for reconsideration.”
The writ petition was thereby dismissed, in light of the above observation.
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