The Delhi High Court directed re-adjudication of the Show Cause Notice under section 73 of the Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017, since the order demanding Goods and Services Tax ( GST ) was passed without considering the reply of the assessee. It was observed that the proper officer merely held that no proper reply/explanation had been received which ex-facie shows that he has not even looked at the reply submitted by the petitioner.
The petitioner was represented by Ms Priyanka Goel, Mr Rohan and Mr R.P. Singh Chintu and the Respondents were represented by Ms Shaguftha H. Badhurar for Mr Rajeev Aggarwal.
M/S Indochem and Polymers, the petitioner challenged the order whereby the proceedings under Section 73 of the Act have been concluded and a demand has been created against the petitioner. The petitioner submitted that a Show Cause Notice was received by the petitioner to which a detailed point-wise reply was submitted.
It was noticed that the order records that no proper reply/explanation has been received from the taxpayer despite sufficient and repeated opportunities which indicates that the taxpayer has nothing to say in the matter. The Court viewed that the observation in the impugned order is not sustainable for the reasons that the reply filed by the petitioner is detailed.
The proper officer had to at least consider the reply on merits and then form an opinion on whether the explanation was sufficient or not. A division bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Ravinder Dudeja observed that the proper officer merely held that no proper reply/explanation had been received which ex-facie shows that he has not even looked at the reply submitted by the petitioner.
The Court set aside the matter and remitted it 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 for a personal hearing to the petitioner.
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