The Delhi High Court directed re-adjudication of the show cause notice ( SCN ) in the matter allegation of incomplete supporting documents on GST Portal.
The petitioner impugned the order whereby the Show Cause Notice proposing a demand of Rs. 3,11,54,338.00/- against the petitioner has been disposed of and a demand including penalty has been created against the petitioner. The order has been passed under Section 73 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 ( CGST Act ).
The counsel for Petitioner submitted that Petitioner had filed a detailed reply dated 15.12.2023. the counsel submitted that a reminder notice was issued to the Petitioner on 04.03.2024 which was also duly replied to by the Petitioner on 02.04.2024. However, the impugned order does not take into consideration the reply submitted by the Petitioner and is a cryptic order.
The impugned order, however, after recording the narration merely records that the tax payer has submitted incomplete supporting documents on the GST Portal in support of availing the benefit of cancelled dealer. It stated that “In response to the SCN issued to the taxpayer to submit reply/explanation alongwith the relevant documents, it has been observed that the taxpayer has submitted the supporting incomplete documents on GST Portal in support of availing the benefit of cancelled dealer. Hence the Proper Officer is left with no other option but to proceed for DRC-07against the taxpayer with the direction to deposit the same at earliest. Now as per GST Act, 2017 DRC-07 is hereby issued.”
A Division Bench of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Ravinder Dudeja observed that “The observation in the impugned order dated 29.04.2024 is not sustainable for the reasons that the reply dated 15.12.2023 filed by the Petitioner is a detailed reply with supporting documents. Proper Officer had to at least consider the reply on merits and then form an opinion. He merely held that that the tax payer has submitted incomplete supporting documents on the GST Portal in support of availing the benefit of cancelled dealer which ex-facie shows that the Proper Officer has not applied his mind to the reply submitted by the petitioner.”
“In view of the above, the impugned order dated 29.04.2024 cannot be sustained and is set aside. The Show Cause Notice is remitted to the Proper Officer for re-adjudication” the Court directed.
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