In a major ruling the Delhi High Court has directed re-adjudication after the Goods and Service Tax ( GST ) Proper Officer failed to consider the taxpayer’s detailed reply.
The Petitioner impugned Notification No. 9 of 2023 dated 31.03.2023 whereby the limitation period for exercise of power under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 has been extended
The counsel for the petitioner Mr. Abhishek Garg, submitted that Show Cause Notice dated 24.09.2023 was received by the petitioner to which a detailed point-wise reply was submitted.
It was noticed that the order dated 31.12.2023 records that no proper reply/explanation has been received from the tax-payer despite sufficient and repeated opportunities which indicates that the taxpayer has nothing to say in the matter.
The proper officer had to at least consider the reply on merits and then form an opinion whether the explanation was sufficient or not. He merely held that no proper reply/explanation has been received which shows that the proper officer has not even looked at the reply submitted by the petitioner.
Accordingly, the coram of Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Ravinder Dudeja observed that the impugned order dated 31.12.2023 was set aside. The matter was remitted to the proper officer for re-adjudication of the show cause notice issued under Section 73 of the Act within four weeks after giving an opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner.
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